Lesson 1: On Sociological Imagination (C.

Wright Mills)

C. Wright Mills (1916-1962)

● American sociologist
● Highly influenced by Max Weber
● Promoted the idea that social scientists should not merely be disinterested observers engaged in
research and theory but assert their social responsibility
● Focused his theories on his observations of the American society during time specifically the ‘ruling’
or ‘elite’ class
● Best known for his work - “The Sociological Imagination (1959)”

Sociological Imagination
● Published in 1959 by Oxford University Press
● Considered to be Mills’ most influential work
● Definition
○ The vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society
○ It is the capacity to see how sociological situations play out due to how people differ in terms
of their places in given social or historical circumstances

How Should We View Society

● A person must be able to pull away from the situation (seeing society from one perspective - self) and
think from an alternative point of view (see how things interact and influence one another)
● There should be willingness to view the social world from the perspective of others
● The focus should rather be on the social circumstances that produce social problems
● Having an understanding of the relationship between our particular situation in life and what is
happening at a social level

Why focus on the Wider Scope of Society and not just on the Self?
● Social conditions affect our personal lives
● Mills believed that every problem faced by an individual as a whole and is faced by many others
● E.G. Unemployment, broken families, equality

Personal Trouble vs. Public Issue

● Personal Trouble
○ It refers to private problems of an individual from events in their own life
○ E.g. getting fired from work, divorce, increasing utility bills
● Public Issue
○ These are problems that affect large groups of people and come from the structure (patterns of
behavior and relationships) of society
○ Eg. unemployment, increasing number of couples having divorce
● Personal Trouble and Public Issue
 ○ We discover with these examples that the problem lies within the structures of the society and
we realize that we cannot provide personal solutions to these issues but instead give social
solutions to social problems
○ E.g. you can’t solve a high divorce rate by getting a divorced couple be together again or giving
an unemployed individual new job because the solutions to these problems lies within the
structure that makes the society function as a whole

Why is Sociology important in the Study of Society?

● It helps us gain a better understanding of ourselves and the social world that we belong to
● It connects the personal and the historical by recasting personal problems as historical ones and
historical ones and historical problems as personal ones
● It gives us a lens or perspective on how to analyze the smallest details or elements that makes the
society function as a whole
● Sociology is a radical undertaking wherein it requires from us a willingness to suspend our own
preconceptions, assumptions and beliefs about the way things are (??)
● Doing sociology is to set away our biases and prejudices in viewing society as a whole ut to view it
scientifically focusing on the structures, systems,and institutions that make it work
● It helps us analyze society deeper by asking sociological questions:
○ What is the structure of society?
○ What is the place of society in history?
○ What kinds of people does society produce
● ‘To have a sociological imagination means looking at the world sociologically, asking sociological
questions and providing sociological answers.
○ Sociological imagination relates personal troubles and public issues, connecting biography and
history in order to give a complete sense of the specific anxieties and crises in our society
○ Sociological imagination is the quality of mind that will help them see what is going on in the
world and what may be happening within themselves
○ Sociological imagination helps understand society as an open system where all have connection
with each other
■ Knowing these connections is a way a person with sociological imagination solve things

Lesson 2: The Uses of Poverty: The Poor of All (Herbert Gans, 1971)

A sociological understanding of society by examining the function of poverty

● Robert Merton’s Concepts
○ Manifest
■ Intended function of social policies,processes, or actions to affect benefits
■ Example: the promotion of contraceptives helps couples manage their family size
○ Latent
■ Not consciously intended but produces benefits
■ Example: The promotion of contraceptives helps prevent mortalities in unassisted
abortions
 ○ Dysfunction
■ Harmful unintended outcome
■ Example: promotion of contraceptives leads to the surge of early engagement of young
people to sexual activities

Gans’ interest is to look at the talent function of poverty

● But in no way he justifies and promotes poverty
○ He outlined poverty’s latent function as a sociologist
● Gans enumerated the observed consequences of poverty to other socio-economic interest groups or
population aggregates
● By learning the consequences of latent functions, it may offer an understanding of why some social
phenomena persist in our society

The Functions of Poverty

● The existence of poverty ensures that society’s “dirty work” will be done
○ Example: Trash collectors are usually taken by those forced by poverty
■ Although there are alot of “sosyal” terms for basurero, there is no amount of
euphemism that can change the fact that the work is equal to a lower wage
● Because the poor are required to work at low wages, they subsidize activities that benefit the upper
class
○ Employers can have a lot of savings because they don’t pay much. In a way, the poor subsidize
the lucrative living and activities because of this.
○ Poverty allows the rich to become richer because the poor are often exploited (required to
work with almost no benefits and low wages)
● Poverty creates jobs that serve or “service” the poor or protect the rest of society from them
○ Poverty unintentionally generates jobs because there must be people who should look after the
well-being of the poor. The poverty of others means the salary to some.
○ Example: NGO workers and agency officers working against poverty might not have
occupations if there is no poverty to begin with.
● The poor buy goods others do not want and thus prolong the economic usefulness of such goods.
○ The poor serve as consumers of substandard items (or of poor services)
○ Example: The poor are found to be patronizing substandard medicines
● The poor can be identified and punished as alleged or real deviants in order to uphold the legitimacy
of conventional norms
○ The poor can be used to justify social norms, most especially norms that benefit those that
promote them
○ The rich demonize the poor as lazy, and sometimes associate their conditions to that laziness.
It is in their interest to uphold hard work as a norm because if people are hardworking, it
translates to profit.
● The poor can be identified as a group which participates more in uninhibited sexual, alcoholic, and
narcotic behavior
 ○ There seems to be an assumption that the poor engage in risky and deviant behaviors . As a
result, many crimes are almost automatically associated with people from economically
depressed areas. This contributes to the “good image” of the affluent.

LESSON 3: Sociological Perspectives

Karl Marx

Emile Durkheim (Suicide)

● Altruistic Suicide
○ Killing of oneself for a noble purpose
○ Japan - Kamikaze Planes, Harakiri
○ Nigeria
● Anomic Suicide
○ Normlessness
○ Socio-psychological in nature
○ UST - cases are usually from identity crisis, displaced families
● Egoistic Suicide
○ Killing of oneself for the love of oneself

Sociological Theory
● Seeks to explain social phenomena
● Theories can be used to create a testable proposition, called a hypothesis, about society (Allan, 2006)
● Macro-sociology
○ Encompassing
○ Generalized

Sociological Perspectives
● Structural Functionalism
○ Functionalism
○ Sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social
needs of the individuals in society
○ Malinowski
■ For every structure, there correspond a function
● Conflict Theory (Karl Marx)
○ Looks at society as a competition for limited resources
○ It is in competition that conflict arises
● Symbolic Interactionism
○ Focuses on meanings attached to human interaction, both verbal and nonverbal, and to
symbols
 ○ Communication—the exchange of meaning through language and symbols—is believed to be
the way in which people make sense of their social worlds

Jose Rizal’s Social Theory

● Aspects
○ Views on nature and conditions of colonial society
○ His critique of colonial knowledge in the Philippines
○ Discussion on the meaning and requirements for emancipation (to be free from bondage)
 ● Attention is drawn to specific problems in colonial society that leads to Rizal’s view of freedom and
emancipation
○ Because of colonial construction of Filipino history that formed the image of Filipino’s
indolence (laziness)

Weber’s Contribution to Sociology

● Versetehen
○ Empathic understanding is crucial to understanding human interaction and social change
○ 2 Types of Understanding
■ Aktuelles Verstehen - you just observe what people are doing
■ Eklarendes Verstehen - Empathic understanding; sociologists must try to understand
the meaning of an act int terms of the motives have given rise to it; find out why/the
cause of the action of the person
● Main points
○ Observation alone is not enough to understand human action, we need empathetic
understanding
○ Understanding individual motives is crucial for understanding changes to the social structure
○ Different societies and different groups emphasize the importance of different types of
“general motive for action” - so society still affects individual motive but in a general way

Symbolic Interactionism
● Act based on meaning
● We give meaning to things based on our social interaction
● The meaning can change
○ Aspects of society can change as they are created and recreated by social interaction

LESSON 4: Labor and Migration

Immigration
● means to enter and settle in a foreign country, permanently.

Emmigration
● leave your own country and go and live in another country, permanently.

Labor
● Expenditure of physical or mental effort especially when difficult or compulsory (Merriam & Webster)
● Primary factor of production (businessdictionary.com)
● Physical work done by people (Wikipedia)
Migration
● Movement of people from one place to another with the intent to settle
● Causes
○ Preindustrial societies
○ Environmental factors - need for resources due to overpopulation
● Effects
○ Bringing of new plants, animals, and technologies that has effects on the environment

Factors that Influence People to Migrate

● Push Factors
○ Occurs where someone is currently living and make continuing to live there less attractive
○ Poverty, Fear, Disasters, Unemployment
○ What pushed you out of your origin
● Pull Factors
○ Occurs in a potential destination and make it an attractive place to go to
○ Safety, Opportunity, Stability, Freedom
○ What pulled you into the new place

Labor Migration
● Migration for the main purpose of employment
● Labor Migrants
○ Often work in the informal sector
○ Usually exposed to abuses resulting from xenophobia and racism
Impacts of Migration
● Positive Impact
○ Unemployment is reduced and people get better job opportunities
○ Helps in improving the quality of life
○ Helps to improve social life of people as they learn about new culture, customs, and languages
which helps to improve brotherhood among people
○ Migration of skilled workers lead to a greater economic growth of the region
○ Children get better opportunities for higher education
○ Population density is reduced and birth rate decreases
● Negative Impact
○ Loss of person from rural areas, impact on the level of output and development of rural areas
○ Influx of workers in urban areas increases competition
○ Having large population puts too much pressure on natural resources, amenities, and services
○ It is difficult for a villager to survive in urban areas because there is no natural environment
and pure air. They have to pay for each and everything.
○ Migration changes the population of a place, therefore, the distribution of the population in
uneven (India)
○ Many migrants are completely illiterate and uneducated, therefore they are not only unfit for
most jobs, but also lack basic knowledge and life skills
○ Poverty makes them unable to live a normal and healthy life
○ Children growing up in poverty have no access to proper nutrition, education, or health
○ Sometimes migrants are exploited
○ Increased the slum areas in cities which increases many problems such as unhygienic
conditions, crime, pollution, etc.
○ Migration is one of the main causes of increasing nuclear family where children grow up
without a wider family circle

Myths about Migrant Workers

● Labor migration benefits only the labor sending country
○ Businesses and employers in host countries reap enormous benefits by exploiting migrant
workers, especially irregular workers
■ Brain drain of highly skilled migrants is a major loss of investment in human resources
in home country but a gain to the host country
■ Receiving countries also gain by rising labor force participation of women made
possible by the engagement of foreign domestic workers at low wages
■ Some governments of labor-receiving countries earn sizeable revenues thru levies on
firms employing foreign workers, the burden of which may partly or fully be passed on
to the workers
● Foreign workers pose a risk to the maintenance of socio-cultural homogeneity of the host country
population
○ No evidence to back this up
 ● Migrant workers increase the crime rates in host countries and bring various diseases
○ Reflects the traditional stereotyping of migrants
○ This perception becomes widespread in times of crisis or recession while at other times, there
is tacit acceptance of the presence of migrant workers
○ It is the traffickers who promote transnational crime with impunity forcing women and girls
into prostitution and sweatshops when they become looking for decent jobs
○ Lack of medical insurance and support forces migrants to forego treatment or resort to
unreliable self-medication. This would naturally increase the incidence of diseases among
them.
● Migrant workers steal job opportunities
○ Not supported by evidence
○ Migrant workers occupy fill-in jobs, which are largely shunned by local populations.
● National workers need to be given preferential treatment even if they perform the same jobs as
migrant workers
○ You still have to hire
○ Work ethics is at stake
● All migrant workers are temporary entrants
○ There are some companies who offer jobs with permanent residencies (Australia)

Recent Trends in Migration

● Changing destinations
○ Middle East, now Inter-Asia
● Temporary migration of labor
● A migration flow dominated by semi-skilled and unskilled workers
● Explosive growth in irregular migration
● Feminization of migration
● Commercialization of the recruitment industry

Neoliberalism and SAPs

● Working overseas became a private solution to a public problem
**Children of OFWs do not necessarily become delinquent nor are their families necessarily broken in the
manner Philippine media depicts it
**They suffer the loss of family intimacy and extended years of separation breed unfamiliarity between
family members
**Children of OFW mothers are often left to struggle with the lack of male responsibility for care work and
have added burden of accepting non-traditional gender roles in their families

**AS compared to children of non-OFWs, they are more vulnerable to experience economic shocks and
psycho-social strain due to physical and geographical separation from parents (especially mothers)

Policy Implications and Options

● Management of migration flows is crucial because international labor migration is likely to increase in
the future
● Bilateral and regional consultations and agreements
● Protection of human rights of migrant workers
● Greater role by social partners in migration issues
● Control of trafficking of women and children
● Information campaigns and orientation

LESSON 5: Global Health

Global Health
● Health problems, issues, and concerns
● Transcend national boundaries which may be influenced by circumstances or experiences in other
countries
● Best addressed by cooperative actions and solutions
Global Health Issues
● Any health issue that concerns many countries or is affected by transnational determinants such as
○ Climate change
○ Urbanization
○ Malnutrition, undernutrition, overnutrition
● Or solutions such as
○ Polio eradication
○ Containment of avian influenza
○ Approaches to tobacco control

Historical Development of term

- Public Health: Developed as a discipline in the mid 19th century in the UK, Europe and US. Concerned
more with national issues.
• Data and evidence to support action, focus on populations, social justice and equity,
emphasis on preventions vs cure.
- International Health: Developed during past decades, came to be more concerned with
• the diseases (e.g. tropical diseases) and;
• conditions (war, natural disasters) of middle and low income countries.
• Tended to denote a one way flow of ‘good ideas’.
- Global Health: More recent in its origin and emphasises a greater scope of health problems and
solutions
• that transcend national boundaries
• requiring greater inter-disciplinary approach

Disciplines involved in Global Health

- Social sciences
- Behavioural sciences
- Law
- Economics
- History
- Engineering
- Biomedical sciences
- Environmental sciences

Communicable Diseases and Risk Factors

- An infectious disease is a disease caused by a microorganism and therefore potentially infinitely
transferable to new individuals.
- A communicable disease on the other hand is an infectious disease that is contagious and which can
be transmitted from one source to another by infectious bacteria or viral organisms.
But, so are western lifestyles:
- Dietary changes
- Lack of physical activity
 - Reliance on automobile transport
- Smoking
- Stress
- Urbanisation

Key Concepts in Relation to Global Health

1. The determinants of health
2. The measurement of health status
3. The importance of culture to health
4. The global burden of disease
5. The key risk factors for various health problems
6. The organisation and function of health systems

1. Determinants of Health
- Genetic makeup
- Age
- Gender
- Lifestyle choices
- Community influences
- Income status
- Geographical location
- Culture
- Environmental factors
- Work conditions
- Education
- Access to health services
- Political Stability
- Civil Rights
- Environmental Degradation
- Population Growth
- Urbanization
- Development of Country of Residence

Multi-sectoral Dimension of the Determinants of Health

Malnutrition
• more susceptible to disease and less likely to recover
Cooking with wood and coal
• lung diseases
Poor sanitation
• more intestinal infections
Poor life circumstances
• commercial sex work and STIs, HIV/AIDS
Advertising tobacco and alcohol
• addiction and related diseases
Rapid growth in vehicular traffic often with untrained drivers on unsafe roads
• road traffic accidents

2. The Measurement of Health Status I

Cause of death
- Obtained from death certification but limited because of incomplete coverage
Life expectancy at birth
- The average number of years a new-borns baby would expect to live if current trends in
mortality were to continue for the rest of the new-born's life
Maternal mortality rate
- The number of women who die as a result of childbirth and pregnancy related complications
per 100,000 live births in a given year

The Measurement of Health Status II

Infant mortality rate
- The number of deaths in infants under 1 year per 1,000 live births for a given year
Neonatal mortality rate
- The number of deaths among infants under 28 days in a given year per 1,000 live births in that
year
Child mortality rate
- The probability that a new-born will die before reaching the age of five years, expressed as a
number per 1,000 live births

3. Culture and Health

Culture
- The predominating attitudes and behaviour that characterise the functioning of a group or
organisation
Traditional health systems
Beliefs about health
- e.g. epilepsy – a disorder of neuronal depolarisation vs a form of possession/bad omen sent by the
ancestors)
- Psychoses – ancestral problems requiring the assistance of traditional healer/spiritualist
Influence of Culture of health
- Diversity, marginalisation and vulnerability due to race, gender and ethnicity

4. The global burden of disease

Predicted changes in burden of disease from communicable to non-communicable between 2004 and 2030
- Reductions in malaria, diarrhoeal diseases, TB and HIV/AIDS
- Increase in cardiovascular deaths, COPD, road traffic accidents and diabetes mellitus
Ageing populations in middle and low income countries
Socioeconomic growth with increased car ownership
Based on a ‘business as usual’ assumption

5. Key Risk Factors for Various Health Conditions

Tobacco use
- related to the top ten causes of mortality worldwide
Poor sanitation and access to clean water
- related to high levels of diarrhoeal/water borne diseases
Low condom use
- HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections
Malnutrition
- Under-nutrition (increased susceptibility to infectious diseases) and overnutrition responsible for
cardiovascular diseases, cancers, obesity etc.

6. The Organisation and Function of Health Systems

A health system
- comprises all organizations, institutions and resources devoted to producing actions whose primary
intent is to improve health (WHO)
Most national health systems consist:
- public, private, • traditional and informal sectors:
HEALTH PATTERNS
- GENETIC FACTORS
- ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
- LIFESTYLE FACTORS
- COMMUNICABLE vs NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES DISEASE

HEALTH PATTERNS IN RESOURCE RICH COUNTRIES

Lifestyle factors affecting physical and mental health:
Smoking – one third of cancer deaths related to smoking
Drinking
Healthy eating/nutrition
Physical activity
Substance abuse

CHOLERA in the 1800’s

Entry: oral
Colonization: small intestine
Symptoms: nausea, diarrhea, muscle cramps, shock
Infants with cholera

John Snow and the Pump Handle

- John Snow is credited by many with developing the modern field of epidemiology
- the branch of medicine which deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of
diseases and other factors relating to health.

London in the 1850’s

- Germ theory of disease not widely accepted
- People lived in very crowded conditions with water and privies in yard (NY 1864: 900 people in 2
buildings 180’ deep x 5 stories – 1 pump a block away, privy in yard)

John Snow’s Observations

- People with cholera developed immediate digestive problems: cramps, vomiting, diarrhea
- Face, feet, hands shriveled and turned blue; died in less than a day
- Probably spread by vomiting and diarrhea
- Comparison of pump location with cholera deaths, first 3 days of epidemic in 1854

Cholera Epidemiology
- Of 83 people, only 10 lived closer to a different pump than Broad Street
- Of these 10, 5 preferred taste of Broad Street water and 3 were children who went to nearby school
Snow Index Case
- Index case is first person to become ill
- 40 Broad Street – husband and infant child became ill
- Wife soaked diapers in pail and emptied pail into cistern next to pump

The Great Experiment

- Two water companies supplied central London
- Lambeth Company: water intake upstream of London sewage outfall into Thames
- Southwark & Vauxhall Company: water intake downstream of sewage outfall
- Customers mixed in same neighborhood
- Snow went door to door asking which water company served home and compared locations with
cholera data
# Houses # Deaths Deaths/
100,000
S and V 40,046 1263 315
Lambeth 26,107 98 37

Cholera Epidemiology
- Snow convinced neighborhood council to let him remove handle from water pump on Broad Street
- The new cases declined dramatically
- Many on council not convinced by his evidence

Cholera in the 1990’s

- Epidemic in Peru beginning 1991
- From 1991-1994
- Cases 1,041,422
- Deaths 9,642 (0.9%)
- Originated at coast, spread inland

Why Has Cholera Re-emerged?

- Deteriorating sanitary facilities as larger population moves into shanty towns
- Trujullo, Peru – fear of cancer from chlorination so water untreated
- Use of wastewater on crops
- Africa – civil wars and drought caused migrations into camps

How has Cholera Re-emerged?

- Simultaneous appearance along whole coast of Peru
- Traveled in ship ballast?
- Traveled in plankton from Asia?
- Always present in local zooplankton (copepods) but dormant until triggered by ???

LESSON 6: Global Food Security

Food Security
● United Nations’ Committee on Food Security
○ All people at all times have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and
nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy
life

Components of Food Security

● Availability
○ Production
○ Processing
○ Water and soil
○ Management
○ Trade and stockpiling
● Access
○ Transport
○ Equitable distribution
○ Marketing
○ Affordability
○ Purchasing power
● Utilization
○ Good health indicators
○ Nutritious food
○ Food safety and quality
○ Clean water
○ Sanitation

Global Food Security Index

● Consists of a set of indices from 113 countries
● Measures food security across most countries of the world
● First published in 2012, managed and updated manually by the Economist’s Intelligence Unity
Factors that drive Food Security
○ Affordability
○ Availability
○ Quality and safety

Food Insecurity
● A condition in which households lack access to adequate food because of limited money or other
resources
● Defined as the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of lack of money and other
resources
Global Hunger Index
● Tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country
levels
● Designed to raise awareness and understanding of the struggles against hunger
● International Food Policy Research Institute
○ Calculates GHI scores each year to assess progress, or lack thereof, in combating hunger

Sustainable Development Goals

History of SDG
● 2030 Agenda for SDG
○ Adopted by all United Nations Member states in 2018
○ Provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into
the future
● 17 Sustainable Development Goals
○ Urgent call for action by all countries (developed and developing) in a global partnership
○ Recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies
that improve health and education, reduce, inequality, and spur economic growth, all while
tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests
● SDGs build on decades of work by countries and the UN, including the UN Department of of Economic
and Social Affairs

Background of the Goals

● SDGs were born at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Department in Rio de Janeiro in 2012
● Objective
○ Produce a set of universal goals that meet the urgent environmental, political, and economic
challenges facing our world
 ● The SDGs replaced the Millennium Development goals which started a global effort in 2000 to tackle
the indignity of poverty
● Millennium Development Goals
○ Established measurable, universally-agreed objectives for tackling extreme poverty and
hunger, preventing deadly diseases, and expanding primary education to all children, among
other development priorities

Core Principles Approach according to the 2030 Agenda

● Universality
● Integration
● Human Rights an Equity
● Innovation

Reflection
● On governance
○ Call for efficient delivery of basic social services including health services- the most important
response to address poverty, hunger, and COVID19
● On social justice
○ Call for equitable distribution of goods and services across all social classes regardless of race,
gender, age, and social rank.
○ Need to prioritize promotion of human rights and human dignity
● On development
○ The current global health crisis knows no economic ranking in the world
○ Collective effort among people to contribute in alleviating the social and economic impact of
COVID19 in any way they could
○ A stronger call for moral development and spiritual development

LESSON 7: Health Equity

- The state in which everyone has the opportunity to attain full health potential
- No one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or any other socially
defined circumstances

How do we Achieve Health Equity?

● Create conditions where individuals enjoy full healthy lives
○ Identify the needs of the community
○ Look for services that the community can use to achieve a healthy life
● Require focused and sustained societal efforts to confront historical and contemporary injustices and
eliminate health disparities
○ Differences that exists among specific population groups in the attainment of full health
potential and in incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of disease and other adverse
health conditions
 ○ They stem from systematic differences-preventable and u just-among groups and
communities occupying unequal positions in society

Indicators of Overall Health

● Infant Mortality
○ Reflect the number of infants in a population who die before their 1st birthday per 1,000 live
births
● Life Expectancy
○ Average number of years a person is expected to live based on mortality rates
○ Captures the degree to which all of the individual-level socioeconomic, environmental, and
health care-related resources in a society enable members to achieve a long and healthy life
○ Better living conditions and better access to health care-related resources throughout lifespan
extend longevity
● Age-Adjusted Mortality
○ Capture population deaths due to all causes, especially those who not died due to old age
○ High death rates suggest that a population not only faces serious threats to health but also
faces serious threats to health but also lacks the resources needed to address them

Where: Community
● Individuals and families are part of communities, and the role of communities is crucial to promoting
health equity for several reasons
● Community-based and -driven efforts are needed to alter environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural
conditions in ways that promote health equity
● A healthy community is the foundation for achieving all other goals, as it is essential for a productive
society
● Communities differ in the local quality and availability of health care providers, the affordability and
quality of housing, employment opportunities, transportation systems, the availability of parks, green
space,and other aspects of the physical environment.
● Communities are uniquely positioned to drive solutions tailored to their needs that target the multiple
determinants of health

LESSON 8: Social Awareness, Community Engagement, and Cultural Competence

Social Awareness
● Ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures
● To understand social and ethical norms for behavior
● To recognize family, school, and community resources and supports
● May contribute to better behavior and achievement in school and increased engagement with
community and school resources

Skills Associated with Social Awareness

 ● Perspective-taking
● Empathy
● Appreciating diversity
● Respect for others

Facets of Social Awareness

To be socially aware, you must have emotional intelligence, social capital perspective taking cultural
competency >> Social Awareness

Community
● Broad and fluid concept
● Individuals are always members of multiple communities, vith views and perspectives that may have
competing interests, potentially shifting over time with changing priorities
In Sociology
○ A group who follow a social structure within a society
○ May work together to organize social life within a particular place, or they may be bound by a
sense of belonging sustained across time and space
● Talcott Parsons
Stated that community can be defined as “Collectivity -- the members of which share a common
territorial area as their base of operation”
● Ferdinand Tonnies
Defined community as “an organic natural kind of social group whose members are bound together
by a sense of belonging created out of everyday contacts covering the whole range of human activities”

Concepts of Community
● System Perspective
○ Community is similar to a living creature, comprising different parts that represent specialized
functions, activities, or interests, each operating within specific boundaries to meet
community needs
(For example, schools focus on education, the transportation sector focuses on moving people and products.)

● Social Perspective
 ○ Community can also be defined by the social and political networks that link individuals,
community organizations, and leaders
(For example, tracing social ties among individuals may help engagement leaders to identify a community’s
leadership, understand its behavior patterns, identify its high-risk groups. )

● Virtual Perspective
○ Social groups or groups with a common interest that interact in an organized fashion on the
internet are considered “virtual communities”
(Examples of computer-mediated forms of communication include email, instant or text messaging, e-chat
rooms, and social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.)

● Individual Perspective
○ Individuals have their own sense of community membership that is beyond the definitions of
community applied by researchers and engagement leaders
■ They may have a sense of belonging to more than one community
■ Their sense of membership can change over time and may affect their participation in
community activities

Community Engagement
● Process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic
proximity, special interest or same situations to address issues affecting the well being of the people ( ”
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 1997, p 9)
● Can take many forms, and partners can include organized groups, agencies, institutions, or
individuals.
○ Collaborators may be engaged in health promotion, research, and
● Grounded in the principle of community organization : fairness, justice, empowerment, participation
and self-determination
● Community engagement in research is a complex, dynamic, and interactive relationship between
researchers, policy makers, and the community.
○ Aimed to involve participants and their advocates as partners in research

Planning and Designing Community Engagement

● Community engagement works best where it is an ongoing cumulative process enabling relationships
and trust to build and strengthen over time.
- Individual engagement events should be planned and designed with this in mind and aim to
contribute to the overall aims of the engagement process.
● Community or voluntary groups may want to participate at a range of levels
- from providing advice to code signing the process and from undertaking some aspects of the
engagement to delivering projects to meet some of the outcomes.

Questions and issues will help in the planning and design of community engagement
1. What level of participation is it hoped will be achieved?
 2. How to identify the stakeholders?
3. Communications.
4. Stage of the engagement process.
5. Resources.
6. Are there any limitations?
7. Timely feedback and next steps.
8. Tools to help choose a method.
9. Methods.

Sunderland Community Development Plan (2008, p.7) Different Levels of Involvement

Actions for Community Engagement

Community Engagement covers a broad range of activities. Some activities undertaken by government
practitioners include:

RCICS: Red Counters In Colored Sunglasses

● Reaching out to / informing the community of policy directions of the government
● Consulting the community as part of a process to develop government policy, or build community
awareness and understanding
● Involving the community through a range of mechanisms to ensure that issues and concerns are
understood and considered as part of the decision-making process
● Collaborating with the community by developing partnerships to formulate options and provide
recommendations.
● Shared leadership / empowering the community to make decisions and to implement and manage
change.

Methods and Techniques

1. Art and Creativity
● Photography: disposable cameras can be given to people of all ages to capture their likes and dislikes
in an area. The results can be exhibited to generate further discussion or to promote additional
events.
 ● Vox Pox: short, snappy interviews with people in different locations and at different times (radio or
television). Like photographs the results can be displayed and discussed more widely.
● Songs, poems, artwork: invite people to submit (possibly for a prize) a song, poem or art piece which
describes their area, changes they would like to see, their ideal home or environment.
● TV game shows: adopt and adapt popular TV game or quiz shows to generate interest and ideas, test
local knowledge and/or understanding of project plans and processes.

Appropriateness
- Art and Creative methods are appropriate where you want to involve local people in expressing their
views and generating ideas in a participative approach.
- They are a useful technique for engaging with people of all ages through education or school
programmes, local community forums and resident or interest groups.
- They may be beneficial at the beginning of a community planning process t o generate interest and
raise awareness of the process.

2. Community Mapping
● Community Mapping Maps and photographs of an area or specific location are used to illustrate how
people view their area: what they like or dislike or improvements they would like to see.
● Ideas are generated in small group discussions and recorded on ‘post-its or pre-prepared cards.
● Discussions should be facilitated to help people explore issues, build consensus or identify areas of
conflict.

Appropriateness
- Community mapping is a useful way to engage people of all levels of capability.
- A variety of aspects can be mapped including land use, community assets, facilities, and transport
options to develop a snapshot of an area.
- Mapping can be carried out using a variety of materials from chalk to sand depending on the
situation.

3. Planning for Real

● This method is the construction of a model of the area in question.
● Where possible the model should be made by local people to build a sense of ownership and to ensure
engagement from the outset. The model can be displayed at one or more public venues to generate
interest and participation.
● Cards with ideas or proposals, along with blank cards, are made available. People can select or write
their own cards which reflect their interests and place them on the model where they think the idea
should be implemented.
For example, a card may say community allotment - people who want an allotment select this card and place
it where they want the facility.

Appropriateness
- The value of this method is that it is accessible to people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.
 - It is also a useful method to build a sense of community ownership and enables participants to identify issues
and prioritize actions.

4. Public Meetings

Appropriateness
- Participants may feel unable to get involved or be unwilling to attend.
- they can be a valuable way of sharing information and demonstrating openness and transparency.

5. Workshops & Focus Groups

Appropriateness
- Workshops and Focus Groups are useful methods for encouraging discussion among those
who may feel less confident in a larger group.
- The main benefit is that participants or certain interest groups can be targeted and therefore
those often excluded from a wider engagement exercise can be identified and invited to attend
this type of event.

6. Web-based Engagement
● variety of web based engagement processes to choose from such as online discussion forums
and blogs, Facebook, online surveys, social networking, ratings and voting and digital
interactive TV.
● Web based activities enable people to choose where, when and for how long they want to
participate.

Appropriateness
- Web based processes may work best as part of a package of methods.

7. Community Surveys Questionnaire

● Surveys can be undertaken to identify the needs and views of a large number of people in a
standard format.
● It is often best to use a short and concise questionnaire where people’s views on an issue are
being sought.
● Increasingly email and SMS (text) are being used to provide a variety of ways for people to
engage. These work best when a small number of questions are used and when views on a
specific proposal or issue are being sought.
● Community Places have produced a useful guide to undertaking a Community Survey (2009).

Appropriateness
- Surveys are best used as part of a programme of other methods- by themselves they can be limited in scope and
provide little meaningful community engagement.

Non-digital Tools for Community Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond communitie
1. Making phone calls and phone trees
 2. Mailing information to people’s homes
3. Using community networks and connections
4. Utilizing gatherings that are happening in person

Digital Tools for Community Engagement

1. SOCIAL MEDIA, SUCH AS FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, AND TIK TOK
Goal: Inform and consult
2. WEBINAR AND MEETING SOFTWARE, SUCH AS ZOOM, GOTOMEETING, GOOGLE HANGOUTS,
LOOM, AND WEBEX
Goal: Inform, consult, and involve
3. ONLINE BRAINSTORMING TOOLS, SUCH AS MURAL, GOOGLE DOCS, BOX NOTE
Goal: Involve and collaborate
4. COLLABORATIVE PROJECT PLANNING TOOLS, SUCH AS SHAPE, MIRO, WHIMSICAL, IDEAFLIP
Goal: Collaborate
5. SURVEY PLATFORMS SUCH AS QUALTRICS, SURVEY MONKEY, GOOGLE FORMS
Goal: Consult

Applying sociological approaches in community engagement

● Lots of documented evidence from Ebola in West Africa (2014-2015), of where anthropology and other
applied social sciences played a key role in understanding communities
● Insights on socio-cultural and political contexts of affected communities to build locally acceptable
interventions.
Some examples include:
○ Understanding myths, beliefs
○ Managing rumors, misinformation
○ Decoding 'fear' 'resistance' 'risky health practices', etc.
○ Working on community based interventions
○ Adapted safe and dignified burial rites for Muslims and Christians

Cultural Competence
● Cultural competence is the ability of a person to effectively interact, work, and develop meaningful
relationships with people of various cultural backgrounds (beliefs, customs, and behaviors of people
from various groups).
● Olsen et al. (2006:3) define cultural competence as the ability to work effectively across cultures and as
an approach to learning, communicating and working respectfully with people from cultures different
from one’s own.
● Cultural competence in organizations means to create practices and policies that are more accessible
to different populations for appropriate and effective communication in cross-cultural situations.
- An individual can feel culturally competent as a result of learning the customs and traditions
of different cultures and to communicate more respectfully and appropriately with members
of different cultures.
 ● According to Brislin (1987:284), cultural competence is about people’s own feelings of competence,
which are based on positive attitudes and self confidence.
- Also proposes a general definition of cultural competence as a dynamic process that draws on
the individual’s cognitive, linguistic and social capabilities and the translation of these
capabilities into functionally appropriate interpersonal strategies for use in particular
situations or sociocultural context
● Cultural competence in social work deals with understanding the cultural differences of
people in need of social services. Displaying empathy and compassion by fostering mutual
respect between the worker and the client is the foundation of any Human Services practice.
● Development in cultural competence became an important study in health care because of
patient dissatisfaction, poor comprehension and adherence and lower-quality care.
- There was a clear link drawn between cultural competence, quality improvement and
the goal of eliminating racial and ethnical disparities.
- It was found that an understanding of communities being served and of the
socio-cultural influences on individual patients’ health beliefs and behaviours is
required to understand cultural competence in health care

Tips for Building Skills in Cultural Competence

1. Increasing cultural and global knowledge
2. Self-assessment
3. Going beyond tolerance: Building skills and putting them in action

Three Important Components of Cultural Competence

1. active listening
2. demonstrating empathy
3. effective engagement