Lecture 4: Rethinking Gendered Responsibilities and Meanings of Illness

What are three marketing strategies used by MERCK to promote the HPV vaccine?

• One Less (cervical cancer)

• Third Time’s a Charm

• Did you Know Mom and Dad?

What is key about all of these marketing strategies

• Develops a gender-sensitive analysis

• Offers insight into how broader circulating cultural narratives shape how we understand health

Who developed the sick role

Talcott Parsons

What type of theory is the Sick Role

Structural functionalism (examines society as a social system)

Why did Talcott Parsons develop the sick role?

It is a way to talk about the social expectations surrounding sickness

What are the four components to the sick role

1) Exempt from “normal” social roles

2) Not responsible for their condition

3) Try to get well

4) Seek technically competent help and co-operate with the physician

The Sick Role perpetuates the assumption that sickness is

Temporary (critique)

What is the emerging discourse of the relationship between patient and providers in the Western welfare context?

• Patients’ autonomy and empowerment

• Supporting patient decision making

According to Sarah, aged 44, the most important thing in the post-diagnostic period was going to be her _

Attitude

What conclusions did doctors draw about Sarahs endometriosis and what was the main symptom

• Main symptom: mental

• “A lot of the pain is psychological”

Sociology offers a way to question……

What is taken for granted

• Putting ourselves in a critical relationship to familiar or common sense assumptions

Who was the comedian who put a comedic twist on her cancer?

Tig Notaro