Sociology

Elfatih M. Malik (MBBS, MD, FPH-UK)

Associate Professor
Fellow at Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum
Determinants of health?

The range of personal, social,

economic, and environmental factors
that influence health status ….
 Determinants of Health
• Health is multifactorial…

Intrinsic Health Extrinsic

factors Status factors

• Interaction between the intrinsic

and extrinsic factors either
promote or deteriorate the health
…
Definition
• Sociology is:
• The study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society…

• The study of social problems….

• A social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of

social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with
everyday life…

• Sociology is the study of human social relationships and institutions.

• It consists of economics, political science, sociology, social psychology

and anthropology…
The scope
• Sociology’s subject matter is diverse, ranging from:
• Crime to religion,
• the family to the state,
• the divisions of race and social class to the shared beliefs of a
common culture,
• social stability to radical change in whole societies.

• The purpose is to understand how human action and

consciousness both shape and are shaped by surrounding
cultural and social structures….
Why sociology?

• Provides critical insight and perspective to the solution of social problems..

.

• Develops and enriches our understanding of key social processes in a

community ….

• Analyzes and explains important matters in our personal lives, our

communities, and the world…

• Provides deeper, more illuminating and challenging understandings of

social life... 
Sociologists methods

• Careful gathering and analysis of evidence

• Observation of the everyday life of groups
• Large-scale surveys
• Interpretation of historical documents
• Analysis of census data
• Studying video-taped interactions
• Interview participants of groups
• Conduction of laboratory experiments…
Community

• Community is a sociological unit of individuals who come

together for the common interest of satisfying their day-today
needs…

• Communities are differentiated on the basis of:

• size of the population
• economic function/ economic class
• residency (rural and urban)
• … etc.
Family/ household
• Family: • Family functions
• A group of individuals related • Homely life
biologically, either by blood or by • Economic security
marriage. • Reproduction
• The members of the family live
• Education
together under one roof and share a
common kitchen. • Socialization
• Nuclear family and extended family • Emotional support
• Social care
• Support
• Household:
• Bridging the generation gap
• The members of the household may
• Job distribution
not be biologically related, but live
together and share common kitchen.
• Examples: boarding houses
Culture

• It is a learned behavior, consisting of customs, beliefs, laws,

religion, moral percepts, arts, skills, etc. acquired through
generations, which has a profound influence on health and
disease.

• Culture differs from nation to nation (one geographic area to the

other) and from religion to religion…

• Culture is constantly undergoing a change based on the social,

economic and biological needs.
Role of family and cultural factors in health and disease

• Health perception • Lifestyle

• Housing conditions • Dietary practices

• Personal hygiene • Disposal practices

• Child rearing • Reproductive behaviour

• Socialization • Care of the Sick and Injured

• Personality formation • Stabilization of Adult Personality

Social factors in health and disease
• Social constraints
• Poverty
• Illiteracy and ignorance
• Migration
• Industrialization and urbanization
• Globalization

• Undesirable practices (social evils)

• Smoking and alcohol consumption
• Caste and casteism
• Gender bias and gender discrimination
• Child neglect and child abuse

• Social deviance
• Drug abuse
• Suicide
Social class difference in health and disease
• Socioeconomic classes:
• Lower, middle and high income countries
• Upper/ lower social class
• Wealth quantiles: poorest, poor, middle, rich, richest

• People of upper socioeconomic class have better health and lesser morbidity, mortality than
those of lower social class...

• Many factors contribute to the difference between upper and lower classes:
• Size of the family (overcrowding)
• Frequent pregnancies
• Less utilization of health services
• Beliefs
• Physical environment (poor housing, water supply)
• Illiteracy and ignorance.
• Genetic i.e. tendency for consanguineous marriages.
• Attitude (indifferent attitude)
The Sustainable Development Goals