HSCI

Structural functionalist paradigm

• eg. Sick role (how a sick person should behave)

• How do the different parts keep society running smoothly or disrupt it (hospitals, clinics, etc.)

• explains how each part of society contributes to its stability

Illness as a subjective experience

• moral character judging (what are you doing to stop illness)

• Perception of ill health

Physical reductionism

• Breaking things into smaller parts to understand them

• health care increasingly reductionist as biomedical knowledge is developed

Specific Etiology

• Each disease has a specific cause

• Belief that discovering cause will lead to treatment

Machine Metaphor

• the human body is seen as a machine

Individualized regimen and control

• Individuals are responsible for their own health

• disease can be fought through regimen and control

• victim blaming critique