Sociology Being ill is not a simple thing! Why do sociologists see it as being a problem? When we think of health and illness, there is a general conception that it involves health habits such as exercise and eating the right food, as well as institutions such as hospitals and doctors. In Western societies it is commonly accepted that if we are ill it is a result of an infectious disease that can be cured by modern medicine, or is a result of genetics or lifestyle choices. Sociologists propose a different cause.
(Giddens 1989) This model of health looks at individual physical functioning and describes disease and illness as a result of physical causes such as injury or infections. The model focuses on the treatment rather than the prevention. It does not take into account the role of a person's mind or society in the treatment. (Senior and Viveash 1998) It is for reducing the treating of morbidity of unhealthy, disease conditions and premature death and focuses on the removal of illness through diagnosis and effective treatment which makes it useful for helping ill patients. (Webb and Tossell 1999) In the biomedical model of health a critical
This process produces environmental pollution while the processes of consuming processed goods have the long term effect on health consequences. For example, eating processed foods, chemical additives etc. Available at: http://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/medical-sociology-policy-economics/4a-concepts-health-illness/section1 accessed: 04th November 2013 Interaction approaches to health- The Interactionists approach to health could be a label of assumptions. For example some people who are suffering a serious illness do not consider themselves as ill. This could be approached to health if a professional and the patients come together to negotiate how ill the person is and whether or not they are assigned to be “signed off work”.
P1 Social marketing is one approach that is applied to health education. The social marketing approach places the participants of the approach at the centre and by doing this enables the health professional to understand at what stage of the disease the patient is at. An example of the social marketing approach can be used with obesity. If a person was suffering from obesity then the health professional would encourage and empower the patient to eat a healthy diet. The health professional would work alongside councillors and supporting services to provide help for the patient to help them become healthy again.
This model identifies health as the ‘absence of disease’ with specific focus on diagnosing and curing individuals with illnesses such as cancer. The different views which are associated with health results in many policies and practices of the National Health Service (NHS) being put in place. The biomedical model suggests that during times of illness, intervention from health care professionals is necessary. Not only this, but the biomedical model also suggests health is the reason for the absence of many life threatening diseases. It is argued by many sociologists the main purpose of health care is to cure disease through the use of scientifically tested methods purposely created to address diagnosed illnesses.
The book widely explains about different reasons behind obesity. It also explains some ideas to control obesity. That is what author’s goal for this book. The author also used some real life examples or stories to make his point more effective. This book will really help those parents who want to control obesity in their children.
Models of Health According to the World Health Organisation, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” (World Health Organisation, 2011) There are two main models of health which reflect different perspectives. These models are known as the social model of health and the medical model of health. The medical model of health focuses more on the cure for an illness, whereas the social model of health concentrates on the origins of the illness rather than the cure such as class, gender and ethnicity. (HSC, 2009) In the medical model of health, the main focus is on a person functioning correctly physically and defines bad health and illness as the presence of disease. The medical model looks at the body as a machine, where if it were to break down, a doctor would take on the role of an engineer and attempt to fix it.
The social determinants of health are those factors that impact upon health and wellbeing: the circumstances into which we are born, grow up, live, work and age. These factors are not usually direct causes of illness but have been described as the causes of the causes of illness. Thus while smoking is the proximal cause of illnesses such as COPD, CHD and lung cancer, it is the social, including cultural, and environmental factors, that largely determines whether an individual is more or less likely to smoke, and if they do start to smoke whether they are likely to quit successfully. These social determinants are not just the causes of the causes of ill health but also the causes of health inequalities. The health inequalities seen within England were set out in Fair Society, Healthy Lives.
It also may be due to the development of a country, LEDCs and MEDCs both play an important role when seeking the differences in health all around the world. The government play a part also; they must choose whether to have a health system which is paid by taxpayers or to have a private health care system. The diets of certain countries also affect the health of the country. Japan for example has a common diet of fish and rice aiding them to be having good heath. Figure 1.
Functionalists would argue that obesity is necessary as a part of society. Functionalist's major arguement, after all, is that everything that exists must have a meaning and must be useful towards society as a whole. Perhaps functionalists would argue that by having obese people, we draw attention to problems in health care and obesity might be a key in leaning more about the human psyche, our emotional connection to food and to further explore man's relationship with eating and nourishment. The obese population might inspire others to be healthier and might inform and educate society as a whole about the dangers of obesity and it's overall impact. Whatever they argue or use to explain obesity, functionalists would say that it is valid and important to society and is better for society as a whole.