Sociology Revision Semester 1 6/6/2008

From Second Opinion edited by John Germov

Life expectancy (LE): differences are not due to distinct biological advantages in
gene pool, rather are a reflection of living and working conditions. Evidence:
o LE can change in a short period of time too short for genetic
improvement
o Longer living in country, the more migrant health mirrors local
population

Public health (aka. Social medicine, community medicine, or preventative

medicine): policies & infrastructure to prevent onset and transmission of disease
among population; focus on sanitation, hygiene, and immunization
o Friedrich Engels: r’ship between disease and poor living/working
conditions is due to capitalist exploitation; big health differences
between labourers & professionals.
 Eg. Miners in poorly ventilated shafts develop ‘black lung’,
while those in well ventilated shafts don’t. Coal owners are too
profit driven to pay money to install shafts therefore cause bad
health for miners.
o Class: position in system of structured inequality based on unequal
distribution of power, wealth, income and status
o John Snow: (1854) early example of epidemiology to prevent disease
spread. During cholera epidemic, traced source to water pump and had
pump removed, ending disease spread.
o Epidemiology: statistical study of patterns of disease in population
o Rudolph Virchow: advocate for public health care, medicine must
intervene in political & social life, state must redistribute social
resources esp. increased access to adequate nutrition
o Edwin Chadwick: development of first Public Health Act (1848);
disease prevented through increased waste disposal and sewerage
systems, as well as food hygiene.

Biomedical model: conventional Western approach, diagnosis & explanation of

illness as malfunction of body’s biological mechanisms; focus on treating
individual
o Louis Pasteur: (1878) germ theory of disease – illness caused by
germs infecting the body
o Cartesian dualism: mind and body interact together but are separate
entities therefore disease = physical; ignore psychological aspects
o CRITICISMS of biomedical model:
 Fallacy of specific etiology: there’s not just one cause of
disease!
 Objectification and medical scientism: leads to poor dr/patient
communication
 Reductionism: illness = only biological/pathological factors;
effectively isolate patient in social vacuum
  Biological determinism: biology determines social / economic/
health status
 Victim-blaming: patient solely responsible for what happens to
them because of lifestyle choices; focus purely on individual,
no acknowledgement of social responsibility.

Thomas McKeown: (1979) Increase in LE not due to medical treatment, but

rather an increase in living standards
Risk factors: conditions which increase an individual’s susceptibility to illness /
disease
Health promotion: education, economic, and political interventions to promote
behavioural and environmental changes conducive to good health.

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MODELS OF HEALTH

 Biomedical model
Malfunction of body’s biological systems; treatment through surgery and
drug therapy
 Biopsychosocial model
Multifactorial model takes into account biological, social, and
psychological factors in patient’s condition. Still focuses on the individual
for diagnosis and treatment
 Web of causation
Epidemiological model of illness; disease as result of web of risk factors
between the agent (eg virus), the host and the environment; identify risk
factors for prevention efforts at individual level
 Ecological model
Relates quality of life to development of ecological resources at a
population level
 New public health
Hygiene and sanitation with cultural and politico-economic factors that
affect health; prevention of illness through community participation and
social reform
 Social model
Can be broken into 3 aspects
1. Social production and distribution of health and illness – many
illnesses are outcomes of certain living and working conditions
2. Social construction of health and illness – health and illness
definitions vary between cultures and change over time; people
actively construct reality therefore it is not ‘inevitable’
3. Social organisation of health care – way particular society
organizes, funds, and utilises its health services

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Ethnicity is shared cultural background whereas race is using skin colour and/or
facial features to group people.
Gender is socially constructed whereas sex is biologically defined.

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STRUCTURE VS AGENCY

Social structure: way social life is organised; recurring patterns of social

interaction
Social institution: formal structures within society; organised to address
identified social needs
Agency: ability of people to influence their own lives and society

Yes, humans are shaped by their social environment BUT they can collectively
change society. Perhaps structure and agency are interdependent, that is, one cannot
exist without the other!

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Sociological imagination: describes the sociological approach to analyzing

issues; make links between personal troubles and public issues; IN OTHER
WORDS: JUST CHESS-C IT!

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THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

*Structural functionalism: shows how various parts of society function to

maintain social order
o Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons
o Sick role
*Marxism: (or conflict theory) capitalists vs. working class; shows how unequal
distribution of scarce resources in capitalist society is based on class division, and
highlights who benefits and who is disadvantaged
o Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels
o Class Health status
*Weberianism: shows how increased regulation of social life takes place and
may stifle human creativity; rise of bureaucracy
o Max Weber
o Greater efficiency and uniformity in healthcare delivery may decrease
effectiveness of patient care
*Symbolic Interactionism: how individual and small-group interactions
construct social meaning in everyday settings to reproduce and change social
patterns of behaviour
o George Mead, Charles Cooley, Erving Goffman
o Labeling theory, looking glass self, stigma (physical/social trait which
results in negative social reactions)
Feminism: seeks to explain and address unequal position of women in society
o Germaine Greer, Ann Oakley
 o Sexism, biological determinism
Contemporary Modernism: attempts to integrate structure and agency
o Norbert Elias, Ulrich Beck
o How health risks are defined and acted upon; civilizing process &
internalization of social norms
Post-structuralism/postmodernism: concentrates on subjectivity, diversity, and
fragmentation; there is no single truth
o Michel Foucault
o Normality and panoptic effects: effect of supposed constant
surveillance

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…and just because I seem to have about a million books on Durkheim lying around
my room at the moment…

Anomie: the decline that takes place in the regulatory mechanisms of social
institutions and in the capacity of society to set the level of social restraint;
particularly when society is unable to regulate social wants which develop as the
economy becomes dominant over other institutions. Eg. Unlimited economic
progress leads to less regulation be by religion, and thus a deterioration of moral
restraint.

1. Altruistic suicide: individual’s attachments to society far exceed the loyalty they
have to themselves. Suicide is a social duty. Eg. Cults, religious duty

2. Anomic suicide: suicide resulting from the overall decline in the regulatory powers
of society and its inability to set the level of external restraint and impose limits on the
individual. Without limits on social wants, the individual continues to exceed the
means at their disposal and their desires become out of reach. Therefore depression
therefore death.

3. Egoistic suicide: due to a decline in social integration; individuals retreat to

themselves and become more self-preoccupied

4. Fatalistic suicide: results from an excess of social regulation; prospects, goals,

and aspirations of individuals are blocked due to social regulation