Literatuur HSO11305 - Sociology of health
Understanding the Sociology of Health - Anne-Marie Barry & Chris Yuill
Literatuur HSO11305 - Sociology of health........................................................................1
Hoofdstuk 1 - 23 - Sociological theory: explaining and theorising......................................1
Hoofdstuk 2 - 25 - Understanding health and wellbeing.....................................................5
Hoofdstuk 3 - 18 - A brief history of health and healing......................................................9
Hoofdstuk 4 - 21 - Climate change, nature and wellbeing................................................11
Hoofdstuk 5 - 13 - Inequality and health...........................................................................13
Hoofdstuk 7 - 21- Race, ethnicity and health....................................................................15
Hoofdstuk 8 - 17 - Mental health and emotional distress..................................................18
Hoofdstuk 10 - 30 - Sociology of the body: chronic illness and disability..........................21
Hoofdstuk 11 - 12 - Health, ageing and the life course.....................................................24
Hoofdstuk 12 - 23 - Pandemics and society.....................................................................27
Hoofdstuk 13 - 13 - Health policy.....................................................................................29
Hoofdstuk 16 - 17 - Health technologies..........................................................................31
Hoofdstuk 1 - 23 - Sociological theory: explaining and theorising
Sociology = the study of society, and specifically with key issues such as explaining change
and the distribution of power between different social groups. The discipline of sociology also
offers its students specific methods of investigation and explanation.
→ It is not individuals per se who draw our attention, but how they interact with
the social environment
Socialisation = The process whereby we become aware of the values and beliefs of society
Structure = A similar term to ‘society’ in so far as it draws our attention to those factors that
help determine our experiences through the establishment of expected ways of behaving.
The contrasting concept of agency means that individuals do not simply act out
predetermined roles but ‘interpret’ those roles in a way unique to them.
A helpful example of the way in which structure (society) influences the actions and
experiences of individuals is provided by Giddens.
- The the relationship that individuals have with the wider social structure: None of us
has invented the language that we use, but without it social activity would be
impossible because it is our shared meanings that sustain ‘society’.
- The relationship and interplay between society and the individual is explained in
terms of structure and agency.
Sociology and health
- Sociological explanations of what determines our state of health will necessarily differ
from, for example, biological explanations
- The immediate cause of a disease may be infection but the factors that lead to this
may be many and varied.
, - When we consider the factors that influence a person’s state of health, the risk of
infection, an ability to fight infection and genetic predisposition are greatly important
but, within sociology, these are not our main focus. Social and environmental factors
such as age, social class and gender are as, if not more, important.
Historical origins of sociology
- Founding fathers of sociology: Comte, Durkheim, Weber and Marx
- Auguste Comte believed that the development of any society was ultimately positive
and progressive, and identified 3 different phases:
1. the religious, represented a supernatural interpretation of the world
2. the metaphysical, replaced religion with a belief in forces such as nature
3. the scientific, final stage: represented the most positive and rational phase of
human development
- Each of these phases represented a mode of thought and explanation: the religious
period; the metaphysical one
- For Karl Marx, this meant making plain the ‘real’ relationships of power and
exploitation behind social class.
- For Emile Durkheim, getting to the heart of the reality meant the observation and
recording of ‘facts’ to provide a picture of the world as it is, rather than to anticipate
how the world should be.
Sociology vs science
- Sociology strives to be scientific in the sense that it seeks to evidence its findings and
to ensure that explanations are consistent. A fundamental difference between the
social and natural sciences is that the subject matter of the social sciences, unlike
that of the natural sciences, is human beings and their behaviour.
- Any explanation of human society and human behaviour has to take into account the
consciousness of the subject, because actions have meanings which derive from
consciousness. For these reasons the experimental method is impractical for
sociologists.
The ‘sociological imagination’
= A concept developed by C. Wright Mills, referring to a specific way of thinking about the
world, characterised by a willingness to think beyond our own experiences and to challenge
commonsense or obvious explanations of human society and human behaviour.
- Enables 3 fundamental questions to be asked:
1. What is the structure of this particular society?
2. Where does this society stand in human history?
3. What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and this period?
Theory = Within sociology, this refers to attempts to provide systematic and consistent
explanations of social phenomena
Sociological theory is characterized by the need to be consistent and evidenced. Common-
sense theories tend to be more in the nature of opinion than of fact.
Functionalism
= A theory of human society as a collection of interrelated substructures, the purpose of
which is to sustain the overarching structure of society. As such, functionalism provides a
,‘consensual’ representation of society based on, first, an agreement to sustain society as it is
and, second, shared norms and beliefs.
- Functionalism is less concerned with the individual and their aims, beliefs and
consciousness than with how our actions and beliefs function to maintain the system
as a whole.
- An essential element in ensuring that the system is maintained is the cultural
subsystem which ensures that individual motivations are in line with the values of the
system as a whole.
- Each person has a certain role or function to fulfill, bounded by a certain set of
expectations about how they will behave and how others should respond.
- Parson’s concept of the sick role = A functionalist theory that outlines the privileges
and expectations associated with being legitimately sick in contemporary society.
Symbolic interactionism
= A theory of social phenomena from the perspective of its participants. An essential
element of this theoretical perspective is the unique nature of the social world as made up of
the actions of participants motivated by human consciousness. The meaning of human
action cannot, therefore, be observed or assumed, but is ‘interpreted’ by studying the
meanings that people attach to their behaviour.
- Two important aspects of social phenomena
1. In terms of the emphasis placed on the disputed nature of meaning, we are clearly
reminded of what is central to the discipline itself, namely the questioning of the
taken-for-granted
2. the focus is on what are referred to as the micro elements of society, that is, the
small- scale interactions between individuals and between individuals and groups.
Becker’s classic analysis of deviance
- Becker defines deviance as any act that is perceived as such.
- His own research tended to concentrate on certain types of ‘deviant’ behaviour, such
as illicit drug use and prostitution, the process that led to an individual taking on a
deviant career, the factors that sustained them in that deviant career and the
processes whereby deviant behaviour became labelled as such
In the context of this discussion, micro refers to the smallscale aspects of human behaviour,
for example why individuals embark on criminal activities. Macro refers to the larger,
structural aspects of society. In terms of criminal activities, this might involve analysis of the
economic circumstances of criminals, of law making and law enforcement and of the role of
the state in regulating such behaviour.
Marxism
= A theory that explains social phenomena as primarily determined by the economic
structure of society. Social change, it argues, is the product of changes in economic
relationships. In the context of the modern period, the advent of capitalism and
industrialisation is seen as producing social divisions based on the ownership or non-
ownership of property.
- Division between those who privately own the means of production (a minority) and
those who are dependent on selling their labour power to make a living (the majority).
, This classic division provides a description of the two main classes, the bourgeoisie
and the proletariat.
Feminist theory
= A broad concept that explains social structures as fundamentally based on inequalities
between women and men. In general, feminist sociologists have challenged the traditional
preoccupation of the discipline with the effects of industrialisation and the world of paid work
and institutional politics. Such an approach, it is argued, has ignored significant elements of
society, such as the family and gender relationships.
- Two elements of social transformation were largely overlooked:
1. The impact of industrialization on women → shift of work from home
to somewhere else (factory) → need for combining work and
childcare
2. Women remained in the ‘private’ sphere of home, family and unpaid work.
- Feminist theory provides, for example, an analysis of gender relations on the basis of
the way in which female inequality has been structured and maintained in society
- Patriarchy
Postmodernism
= These veer away from all-embracing theories that attempt to explain all social phenomena.
Instead, the emphasis is on the impossibility of uncovering the ‘truth’ about society.
Postmodernism draws our attention to how our knowledge of the social world is constructed,
and offers a critical and questioning approach to understanding the world around us. Also
see Discourse.
- The present historical period
- Globalization of the economy and culture
- Fragmentation of individual identity
- Michel Foucault (1973): in order to understand science and medicine we have to
think about them as ‘discourses’ about the body, health and the natural world, rather
than accepting these disciplines as objective descriptions of reality
- 2 main contributions to the study of health and disease:
1. We are offered a way of challenging the dominance of medicine and
questioning what appears to be scientific, true and objective
2. we can appreciate the way in which knowledge discourses can be used to
discipline us
- Al die andere perspectieven gaan over: wat is samenleving. Post-modernisme gaat
over: wat is waarheid? Hoe kunnen we daar kritisch naar kijken? Er is geen ultieme
waarheid.
Neo-materialism
= Neo-materialism is a relatively recent addition to the theories of health and wellbeing. Its
main contribution is to understand that all matter shapes and influences human interaction.
Matter here refers to a wide range of things including, for example, all forms of technology,
viruses, roads, animals, weather and so on. Neomaterialism can therefore be described as
post-human, in that it does not put humans at the centre of the world or the object of study.
- This claim of a materiality is in contrast to post modernism with its focus on texts and
social constructions
Understanding the Sociology of Health - Anne-Marie Barry & Chris Yuill
Literatuur HSO11305 - Sociology of health........................................................................1
Hoofdstuk 1 - 23 - Sociological theory: explaining and theorising......................................1
Hoofdstuk 2 - 25 - Understanding health and wellbeing.....................................................5
Hoofdstuk 3 - 18 - A brief history of health and healing......................................................9
Hoofdstuk 4 - 21 - Climate change, nature and wellbeing................................................11
Hoofdstuk 5 - 13 - Inequality and health...........................................................................13
Hoofdstuk 7 - 21- Race, ethnicity and health....................................................................15
Hoofdstuk 8 - 17 - Mental health and emotional distress..................................................18
Hoofdstuk 10 - 30 - Sociology of the body: chronic illness and disability..........................21
Hoofdstuk 11 - 12 - Health, ageing and the life course.....................................................24
Hoofdstuk 12 - 23 - Pandemics and society.....................................................................27
Hoofdstuk 13 - 13 - Health policy.....................................................................................29
Hoofdstuk 16 - 17 - Health technologies..........................................................................31
Hoofdstuk 1 - 23 - Sociological theory: explaining and theorising
Sociology = the study of society, and specifically with key issues such as explaining change
and the distribution of power between different social groups. The discipline of sociology also
offers its students specific methods of investigation and explanation.
→ It is not individuals per se who draw our attention, but how they interact with
the social environment
Socialisation = The process whereby we become aware of the values and beliefs of society
Structure = A similar term to ‘society’ in so far as it draws our attention to those factors that
help determine our experiences through the establishment of expected ways of behaving.
The contrasting concept of agency means that individuals do not simply act out
predetermined roles but ‘interpret’ those roles in a way unique to them.
A helpful example of the way in which structure (society) influences the actions and
experiences of individuals is provided by Giddens.
- The the relationship that individuals have with the wider social structure: None of us
has invented the language that we use, but without it social activity would be
impossible because it is our shared meanings that sustain ‘society’.
- The relationship and interplay between society and the individual is explained in
terms of structure and agency.
Sociology and health
- Sociological explanations of what determines our state of health will necessarily differ
from, for example, biological explanations
- The immediate cause of a disease may be infection but the factors that lead to this
may be many and varied.
, - When we consider the factors that influence a person’s state of health, the risk of
infection, an ability to fight infection and genetic predisposition are greatly important
but, within sociology, these are not our main focus. Social and environmental factors
such as age, social class and gender are as, if not more, important.
Historical origins of sociology
- Founding fathers of sociology: Comte, Durkheim, Weber and Marx
- Auguste Comte believed that the development of any society was ultimately positive
and progressive, and identified 3 different phases:
1. the religious, represented a supernatural interpretation of the world
2. the metaphysical, replaced religion with a belief in forces such as nature
3. the scientific, final stage: represented the most positive and rational phase of
human development
- Each of these phases represented a mode of thought and explanation: the religious
period; the metaphysical one
- For Karl Marx, this meant making plain the ‘real’ relationships of power and
exploitation behind social class.
- For Emile Durkheim, getting to the heart of the reality meant the observation and
recording of ‘facts’ to provide a picture of the world as it is, rather than to anticipate
how the world should be.
Sociology vs science
- Sociology strives to be scientific in the sense that it seeks to evidence its findings and
to ensure that explanations are consistent. A fundamental difference between the
social and natural sciences is that the subject matter of the social sciences, unlike
that of the natural sciences, is human beings and their behaviour.
- Any explanation of human society and human behaviour has to take into account the
consciousness of the subject, because actions have meanings which derive from
consciousness. For these reasons the experimental method is impractical for
sociologists.
The ‘sociological imagination’
= A concept developed by C. Wright Mills, referring to a specific way of thinking about the
world, characterised by a willingness to think beyond our own experiences and to challenge
commonsense or obvious explanations of human society and human behaviour.
- Enables 3 fundamental questions to be asked:
1. What is the structure of this particular society?
2. Where does this society stand in human history?
3. What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and this period?
Theory = Within sociology, this refers to attempts to provide systematic and consistent
explanations of social phenomena
Sociological theory is characterized by the need to be consistent and evidenced. Common-
sense theories tend to be more in the nature of opinion than of fact.
Functionalism
= A theory of human society as a collection of interrelated substructures, the purpose of
which is to sustain the overarching structure of society. As such, functionalism provides a
,‘consensual’ representation of society based on, first, an agreement to sustain society as it is
and, second, shared norms and beliefs.
- Functionalism is less concerned with the individual and their aims, beliefs and
consciousness than with how our actions and beliefs function to maintain the system
as a whole.
- An essential element in ensuring that the system is maintained is the cultural
subsystem which ensures that individual motivations are in line with the values of the
system as a whole.
- Each person has a certain role or function to fulfill, bounded by a certain set of
expectations about how they will behave and how others should respond.
- Parson’s concept of the sick role = A functionalist theory that outlines the privileges
and expectations associated with being legitimately sick in contemporary society.
Symbolic interactionism
= A theory of social phenomena from the perspective of its participants. An essential
element of this theoretical perspective is the unique nature of the social world as made up of
the actions of participants motivated by human consciousness. The meaning of human
action cannot, therefore, be observed or assumed, but is ‘interpreted’ by studying the
meanings that people attach to their behaviour.
- Two important aspects of social phenomena
1. In terms of the emphasis placed on the disputed nature of meaning, we are clearly
reminded of what is central to the discipline itself, namely the questioning of the
taken-for-granted
2. the focus is on what are referred to as the micro elements of society, that is, the
small- scale interactions between individuals and between individuals and groups.
Becker’s classic analysis of deviance
- Becker defines deviance as any act that is perceived as such.
- His own research tended to concentrate on certain types of ‘deviant’ behaviour, such
as illicit drug use and prostitution, the process that led to an individual taking on a
deviant career, the factors that sustained them in that deviant career and the
processes whereby deviant behaviour became labelled as such
In the context of this discussion, micro refers to the smallscale aspects of human behaviour,
for example why individuals embark on criminal activities. Macro refers to the larger,
structural aspects of society. In terms of criminal activities, this might involve analysis of the
economic circumstances of criminals, of law making and law enforcement and of the role of
the state in regulating such behaviour.
Marxism
= A theory that explains social phenomena as primarily determined by the economic
structure of society. Social change, it argues, is the product of changes in economic
relationships. In the context of the modern period, the advent of capitalism and
industrialisation is seen as producing social divisions based on the ownership or non-
ownership of property.
- Division between those who privately own the means of production (a minority) and
those who are dependent on selling their labour power to make a living (the majority).
, This classic division provides a description of the two main classes, the bourgeoisie
and the proletariat.
Feminist theory
= A broad concept that explains social structures as fundamentally based on inequalities
between women and men. In general, feminist sociologists have challenged the traditional
preoccupation of the discipline with the effects of industrialisation and the world of paid work
and institutional politics. Such an approach, it is argued, has ignored significant elements of
society, such as the family and gender relationships.
- Two elements of social transformation were largely overlooked:
1. The impact of industrialization on women → shift of work from home
to somewhere else (factory) → need for combining work and
childcare
2. Women remained in the ‘private’ sphere of home, family and unpaid work.
- Feminist theory provides, for example, an analysis of gender relations on the basis of
the way in which female inequality has been structured and maintained in society
- Patriarchy
Postmodernism
= These veer away from all-embracing theories that attempt to explain all social phenomena.
Instead, the emphasis is on the impossibility of uncovering the ‘truth’ about society.
Postmodernism draws our attention to how our knowledge of the social world is constructed,
and offers a critical and questioning approach to understanding the world around us. Also
see Discourse.
- The present historical period
- Globalization of the economy and culture
- Fragmentation of individual identity
- Michel Foucault (1973): in order to understand science and medicine we have to
think about them as ‘discourses’ about the body, health and the natural world, rather
than accepting these disciplines as objective descriptions of reality
- 2 main contributions to the study of health and disease:
1. We are offered a way of challenging the dominance of medicine and
questioning what appears to be scientific, true and objective
2. we can appreciate the way in which knowledge discourses can be used to
discipline us
- Al die andere perspectieven gaan over: wat is samenleving. Post-modernisme gaat
over: wat is waarheid? Hoe kunnen we daar kritisch naar kijken? Er is geen ultieme
waarheid.
Neo-materialism
= Neo-materialism is a relatively recent addition to the theories of health and wellbeing. Its
main contribution is to understand that all matter shapes and influences human interaction.
Matter here refers to a wide range of things including, for example, all forms of technology,
viruses, roads, animals, weather and so on. Neomaterialism can therefore be described as
post-human, in that it does not put humans at the centre of the world or the object of study.
- This claim of a materiality is in contrast to post modernism with its focus on texts and
social constructions
