UNIT 10: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
LEARNING AIM A: Understand how sociological concepts and perspectives are
applied to the study of health and social care
Context
You have now completed your BTEC Level 3 qualification in health and social care and have applied to study sociology at
university. Prior to your interview, you have been asked to produce some materials on a health and social care setting in your local
area (Tower Hamlets) You will be discussing your materials as part of your interview.
Task 1 Report
•You are asked to produce a report that evaluates the role of sociological perspectives, models, and
concepts of health, in relation to service provision in a health and social care setting within your local
area.
•Your report should also include:
•An analysis of how sociological perspectives contribute to our understanding of health and
social care and how society functions
,•An analysis of how the biomedical model and an alternative model of health and concepts of ill
health and disability, affect the service provision in your selected health and social care
setting, comparing the biomedical model of health and your selected, alternative model
•An explanation of how sociological perspectives are applied to our understanding of health
and social care and society
•An explanation of how the concepts of health, ill health, and disability, contribute to the
service provided in your selected, health and social care setting.
A.P1: Explain how sociological perspectives are applied to the understanding of health
and social care.
functionalism
One sociological perspective that is applied to the understanding of health and social care is
functionalism, this perspective focuses on the fact that every aspect of society has a purpose
such as individuals' norms and values functionalists believe that society works in the same way
as a human body and the fact that society is not going to be able to function without various
parts carrying out their assigned roles. Parsons plays a vital role in the development of
functionalism as an approach, he saw that society is made up of institutions which contributes
to society running smoothly, he thought that the main role of these institutions where to is to
socialise with individuals in order to enable them to understand the values of society and
behave I appropriate ways.
How this perspective can be applied to health and social care is that due to the covid 19
pandemic there have been a lot of strain on hsc services for example students at school ,due to
the spread of the virus as well as different underlying health conditions that may have been
there before students were required to self-isolate and there was also a pause in the education
of students due to the circumstances, In England, in the first week of the first national lockdown
an average of 6 per cent of vulnerable children were in school. This rose to an average of 26 per
cent by the last week of the 2019/20 school year. When schools closed to most pupils for a
second time in January 2021, an average of 39 per cent of children with a social worker
attended school in the first week, rising to 51 per cent by the final week
https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/ ,this was in an attempt to lower the infection rate of covid 19
and put less strain on health and social care services, this means that school students are
unable to carry out their societal norms which is to go to school and receive education,
functionalists may argue that covid may be a deviance this is because covid affected many
people s work and social life this led to way to many people such as students being sick which
became a problem because it made society stop due to the fact that members of society need
to be healthy in order to function smoothly
Marxism
, One sociological perspective that is applied to the understanding of health and social care is
Marxism, this perspective believes that society is based upon hierarches , such as those
between social class which are between the bourgeoisie which are the capitalist class and the
proletariat which are the working class, and how the capitalism between these two social
classes is dominant and create inequalities between these classes, the bourgeoisie is a small
powerful population of society that tend to be owners of factories they control the proletariat
which are the workers whilst the proletariat are ordinary labourers people of minimum wage,
they have little power in the system . This perspective can be applied to health and social care
for example during the covid pandemic there had been a lot of deaths relating to covid the
government had introduced the covid vaccine/jab to the community, the production of the
vaccine was expensive The UK government has spent £12 billion on Covid-19 vaccines so far but
expects costs to mount up over the coming years, according to the National Audit Office.
https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com , Marxists would argue that the covid vaccines
offer false class consciousness as proletariats may think by taking the vaccine, they can protect
themselves from the virus, they are being exploited as proletariats are the people in the
frontline, they require the vaccine to work, vaccine companies are earning more money as they
produce more vaccines which are profiting the bourgeoisie as they are the head of such
companies.
Feminism
One sociological perspective that is applied to the understanding of health and social care is
feminism, this perspective believes that there are inequalities between genders, the feminists
theory aims to understand the nature of gender inequality and examines the women's social
roles , experiences and interests, there are three different strands of feminism ,Marxist
feminism which aims to produce a classless society that aims to remove oppression and
exploitation of women, they believe that females should not be exploited, liberal feminism aims
in the establishment of equality between sexes by reforming laws and attitudes often
campaigning against sexual discrimination, equal rights and opportunities between women and
radical feminism that aims to abolish a society that opresses,this perspective can be applied to
health and social care for example during covid frontline workers where almost completely
females , they dominated the roles as the midwives and nurses whilst men tended to dominate
the other medical professions such as surgeons and doctors, more than three quarters of the
1.3 million members of NHS staff made up of women, they have been at the forefront of the
fight against COVID and played a leading part in the roll out of the largest vaccination
programme 88.6% of the 342,104 nurses and health visitors are women 42.5% of 18,509
ambulance staff https://www.england.nhs.uk/ , but whilst they work on the frontlines, they still
have to bear the responsibility of the triple shift, the responsibilities of taking care of the
children, helping them with schoolwork, caring for other family members and still doing house
chores whilst also supporting men in the family.
LEARNING AIM A: Understand how sociological concepts and perspectives are
applied to the study of health and social care
Context
You have now completed your BTEC Level 3 qualification in health and social care and have applied to study sociology at
university. Prior to your interview, you have been asked to produce some materials on a health and social care setting in your local
area (Tower Hamlets) You will be discussing your materials as part of your interview.
Task 1 Report
•You are asked to produce a report that evaluates the role of sociological perspectives, models, and
concepts of health, in relation to service provision in a health and social care setting within your local
area.
•Your report should also include:
•An analysis of how sociological perspectives contribute to our understanding of health and
social care and how society functions
,•An analysis of how the biomedical model and an alternative model of health and concepts of ill
health and disability, affect the service provision in your selected health and social care
setting, comparing the biomedical model of health and your selected, alternative model
•An explanation of how sociological perspectives are applied to our understanding of health
and social care and society
•An explanation of how the concepts of health, ill health, and disability, contribute to the
service provided in your selected, health and social care setting.
A.P1: Explain how sociological perspectives are applied to the understanding of health
and social care.
functionalism
One sociological perspective that is applied to the understanding of health and social care is
functionalism, this perspective focuses on the fact that every aspect of society has a purpose
such as individuals' norms and values functionalists believe that society works in the same way
as a human body and the fact that society is not going to be able to function without various
parts carrying out their assigned roles. Parsons plays a vital role in the development of
functionalism as an approach, he saw that society is made up of institutions which contributes
to society running smoothly, he thought that the main role of these institutions where to is to
socialise with individuals in order to enable them to understand the values of society and
behave I appropriate ways.
How this perspective can be applied to health and social care is that due to the covid 19
pandemic there have been a lot of strain on hsc services for example students at school ,due to
the spread of the virus as well as different underlying health conditions that may have been
there before students were required to self-isolate and there was also a pause in the education
of students due to the circumstances, In England, in the first week of the first national lockdown
an average of 6 per cent of vulnerable children were in school. This rose to an average of 26 per
cent by the last week of the 2019/20 school year. When schools closed to most pupils for a
second time in January 2021, an average of 39 per cent of children with a social worker
attended school in the first week, rising to 51 per cent by the final week
https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/ ,this was in an attempt to lower the infection rate of covid 19
and put less strain on health and social care services, this means that school students are
unable to carry out their societal norms which is to go to school and receive education,
functionalists may argue that covid may be a deviance this is because covid affected many
people s work and social life this led to way to many people such as students being sick which
became a problem because it made society stop due to the fact that members of society need
to be healthy in order to function smoothly
Marxism
, One sociological perspective that is applied to the understanding of health and social care is
Marxism, this perspective believes that society is based upon hierarches , such as those
between social class which are between the bourgeoisie which are the capitalist class and the
proletariat which are the working class, and how the capitalism between these two social
classes is dominant and create inequalities between these classes, the bourgeoisie is a small
powerful population of society that tend to be owners of factories they control the proletariat
which are the workers whilst the proletariat are ordinary labourers people of minimum wage,
they have little power in the system . This perspective can be applied to health and social care
for example during the covid pandemic there had been a lot of deaths relating to covid the
government had introduced the covid vaccine/jab to the community, the production of the
vaccine was expensive The UK government has spent £12 billion on Covid-19 vaccines so far but
expects costs to mount up over the coming years, according to the National Audit Office.
https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com , Marxists would argue that the covid vaccines
offer false class consciousness as proletariats may think by taking the vaccine, they can protect
themselves from the virus, they are being exploited as proletariats are the people in the
frontline, they require the vaccine to work, vaccine companies are earning more money as they
produce more vaccines which are profiting the bourgeoisie as they are the head of such
companies.
Feminism
One sociological perspective that is applied to the understanding of health and social care is
feminism, this perspective believes that there are inequalities between genders, the feminists
theory aims to understand the nature of gender inequality and examines the women's social
roles , experiences and interests, there are three different strands of feminism ,Marxist
feminism which aims to produce a classless society that aims to remove oppression and
exploitation of women, they believe that females should not be exploited, liberal feminism aims
in the establishment of equality between sexes by reforming laws and attitudes often
campaigning against sexual discrimination, equal rights and opportunities between women and
radical feminism that aims to abolish a society that opresses,this perspective can be applied to
health and social care for example during covid frontline workers where almost completely
females , they dominated the roles as the midwives and nurses whilst men tended to dominate
the other medical professions such as surgeons and doctors, more than three quarters of the
1.3 million members of NHS staff made up of women, they have been at the forefront of the
fight against COVID and played a leading part in the roll out of the largest vaccination
programme 88.6% of the 342,104 nurses and health visitors are women 42.5% of 18,509
ambulance staff https://www.england.nhs.uk/ , but whilst they work on the frontlines, they still
have to bear the responsibility of the triple shift, the responsibilities of taking care of the
children, helping them with schoolwork, caring for other family members and still doing house
chores whilst also supporting men in the family.
