Social Construction Of Health And Illness

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SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS Social construction refers to how health varies from one society to another. Our gender, class, ethnicity, religion and even education construct society, these all determine our experience of reality. Health, illness and disability can all be seen as socially constructed or defined. Some argue that friends or relatives can often influence a person’s view on a ‘symptom’ worthy of the doctor’s attention. Irving Kenneth Zola argued that patients’ reasons for seeking medical help are affected by cultural background. His study in the USA found that Italians often sought help because symptoms interfered with personal relationships. Anglo-Saxons were more likely to seek help if symptoms affected their work, while the Irish were likely to present symptoms because of pressure from others to seek help. The aim of this essay is to explore and understand different theories and concepts around the social construction of health and illness. There are many varying definitions of health and illness and they vary from culture to culture and across time. An example of a view of illness over time is back in the middle ages, epilepsy was seen as a violent possession by divine forces, whereas today epilepsy is caused by an abnormal neurological condition as a result of brain damage. This example shows how views change over time. In the western world people don’t usually make a distinction between disease and illness and generally use them as the same meaning, they traditionally accept a personalistic explanation of illness. They believe causes and cures are not to be found only in the natural world and curers must use supernatural means to understand what is wrong with their patients and return them to health. In the Health and Lifestyles survey which was based on 9000 people, Mildred Baxter (1900) identified nine main categories of
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