Review of Medicine and Health Problems

Summary

1. A sociological approach emphasizes the relationship between health, medicine, and society. In particular, our social locations influence our health, access to healthcare, and experiences within the institution of medicine.
2. Medicine is the social institution responsible for health and healthcare, epidemiology is the study of health or disease and their causes, and medical sociology focuses on social issues related to health and the institution of medicine. 
3. Distinguishing between mental health, mental illness, and mental wellbeing is important. Even people with mental illness can experience mental wellbeing, an active process that allows us to thrive mentally and emotionally.
4. The US is alone among the world’s industrial nations in not offering universal national health insurance, and its absence is thought to help account for the country’s low ranking in the industrial world on major health indicators. The US lags behind most other industrial nations in important health indicators such as infant mortality and life expectancy. Moreover, serious disparities exist within the US in the social distribution of health, as evidenced by the study of social epidemiology.
5. The functionalist view emphasizes the importance of health for a society’s stability and the roles that people play when they are sick. The conflict view stresses inequality in the quality of health and healthcare and efforts by physicians to monopolize the practice of medicine to increase their profits. According to the interactionist view, health and illness are social constructions subject to people’s and society’s interpretations. The interactionist view also studies how medical professionals and patients interact and the way professionals manage understandings of such interaction.
6. The experience of health or illness goes beyond the individual. People get sick or get well partially based on their experience of social location. A person’s race, class, gender, or sexuality, for example, can partially predict their health outcomes. We can see health as a social problem because of these health disparities – different groups have differing experiences with health and medicine due to their social location and social inequality.
7. Social and structural issues such as institutional racism and sexism and patriarchy limit people's choices and impact their experiences with the institution of medicine and health outcomes.
8. Sociologists use the social determinants of health model to explore the social factors that influence the health outcomes of people in different populations. They use the ACES model to predict the impact of generational, historical, and childhood trauma on individual health outcomes. Both models help explain why oppressed people have poorer health outcomes than powerful people.
9. Health and the quality of healthcare differ widely around the world and reflect global inequality. The earth’s poorest nations have high rates of infant mortality and life-threatening diseases such as AIDS and low life expectancy.
10. Access to affordable insurance or healthcare could change health outcomes, particularly for our most vulnerable people. But interdependent solutions don’t stop at the federal government offering a national healthcare plan. States, counties, and communities can work together in creative ways to create healthy lives for every person. Health equity is social justice.

  

Questions

1. What do you think should be done to help improve the health of poor nations, and what role should the United States play in any efforts in this regard?
2. Do you think that the US should move toward the national health insurance model found in other Western nations, and why or why not?
3. Why do you think the US remains the only industrial nation without national health insurance?
4. Which theoretical approach do you most favor regarding how you understand medicine and health, and why is that your preferred perspective?
5. Think of the last time you visited a physician or other health-care professional – in what ways did this person come across as an authority figure possessing medical knowledge (think about the person’s clothing, body position and body language, and other aspects of nonverbal communication)?
6. How would you present a sociological explanation of the higher rate of depression found among women than among men?
7. Some people believe that gender-affirming care is essential as it is healthcare, whereas others think it should be restricted – using points and concepts of this chapter to support your answer, what do you think? If you feel that it should be restricted, would your answer change if you considered that cisgender people routinely obtain gender-affirming care?
8. If you know anyone including yourself or anyone in your family who lacks health insurance, do you think the lack of health insurance has contributed to any health concerns, and how so?
9. How could you apply the social problems process to any health-related social problem?
10. Identify a community mental health resource within your own community – do you think that this intervention is effective, and why or why not?

  

Action Steps

1. Use your sociological imagination: When you or others assume that someone has health concerns due to their lifestyle or habits, consider what social forces may be impacting their health and their health choices. 
2. Support nonprofits and similar organizations: Volunteer at or donate to a local health clinic or community-based health program. 
3. Use your individual agency: Start a group on your campus to help educate medical staff on implicit bias and discrimination, to advocate for national health insurance, or to improve the mental health of college students. 
4. Engage in collective action: Research local or national groups that are engaged in organized action around improving health or access to healthcare, select one, and figure out how to get involved in their efforts.