1
Exam 2
Name
Institution
Course
Instructor
Date
, 2
Exam 2
Question 1: Illness as a Biological Category or Social Construction
Most individuals believe that illness is strictly biological and objectively diagnosable.
Sociologists, though, hold that illness is also determined by social and moral interpretations. I
concur with the argument that illness is both a social construction and a biological reality since
society is affected by the definition, diagnosis, and experience of the conditions.
Among the reasons is the fact that medical knowledge is constructed at the social and
institutional level. According to Conrad and Barker (2010), medicalization is a process in which
the medicalization of behaviors or conditions that were earlier viewed as moral or social
problems takes place. An example of this is the fact that alcoholism used to be considered a
moral transgression but is now frequently managed as a medical diagnosis, showing that the
social opinion constructs the medical concept. Pilgrim (2015) identifies that the biopsychosocial
model is the model that incorporates the biological, psychological, and social elements in trying
to comprehend the ill, but argues that the social context is important in addition to biology.
Interpretation of symptoms also depends on culture. To illustrate an example, sadness or
fatigue can be interpreted as a normal reaction to stress in one society, whereas it is considered a
case of depression in another society. This difference goes to show that illness is a social
interpretation and not necessarily biologically discovered.
Some argue that biological factors are still the dominant ones. Ghaemi (2009) also argues
that lots of diseases, including tuberculosis or diabetes, are the ones whose physiological
processes can be measured regardless of how those diseases are socially imagined. It
acknowledges social influences and does not refute biology, but underlines that illness is located
at the crossroads of the body, the mind, and society.
Exam 2
Name
Institution
Course
Instructor
Date
, 2
Exam 2
Question 1: Illness as a Biological Category or Social Construction
Most individuals believe that illness is strictly biological and objectively diagnosable.
Sociologists, though, hold that illness is also determined by social and moral interpretations. I
concur with the argument that illness is both a social construction and a biological reality since
society is affected by the definition, diagnosis, and experience of the conditions.
Among the reasons is the fact that medical knowledge is constructed at the social and
institutional level. According to Conrad and Barker (2010), medicalization is a process in which
the medicalization of behaviors or conditions that were earlier viewed as moral or social
problems takes place. An example of this is the fact that alcoholism used to be considered a
moral transgression but is now frequently managed as a medical diagnosis, showing that the
social opinion constructs the medical concept. Pilgrim (2015) identifies that the biopsychosocial
model is the model that incorporates the biological, psychological, and social elements in trying
to comprehend the ill, but argues that the social context is important in addition to biology.
Interpretation of symptoms also depends on culture. To illustrate an example, sadness or
fatigue can be interpreted as a normal reaction to stress in one society, whereas it is considered a
case of depression in another society. This difference goes to show that illness is a social
interpretation and not necessarily biologically discovered.
Some argue that biological factors are still the dominant ones. Ghaemi (2009) also argues
that lots of diseases, including tuberculosis or diabetes, are the ones whose physiological
processes can be measured regardless of how those diseases are socially imagined. It
acknowledges social influences and does not refute biology, but underlines that illness is located
at the crossroads of the body, the mind, and society.
