MEDICINE IN SOCIOLOGY

Kaila Soliman & Kevin Pagunsan

OUR BODY
Health and Healthy
 HEALTH HEALTHY

Condition the body is in “Good health”

currently
Balance of body,mind and
the condition of being well spirit(galen)
or free from disease
enjoying health and vigor of
body, mind, or spirit
Galen,gk, ph.D
(29-216 AD)

● Systemized medical practice and theory

● Medicine is an art and science

● Health includes soul, mind, body

“Father of systematic medicine”

● Studies as a physician dominated the medicine

science and thw works of andreas vessalius up
to today
 Galen,gk, ph.D

● Born in perganum

● Father: nicon, wealthy architect

● Schools: platonist, Aristotelians,

epicureans

● Formulated his own direction on his

medical studies at the age of 16

● First experience,studied cadvers

● He was the one who studied anatomy

through dead galdiators and wrote
the book “method of medicine
Humor Theory
“The balance”
Humor theory
Developed by galen

system of medicine “detailing the makeup and workings of

the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman
physicians and philosophers, positing that an excess or
deficiency of any of four distinct bodily fluids in a person—
known as humors or humours—directly influences their
temperament and health.”

WATER(PLEGHM),AIR(BLOOD),

FIRE(YELLOW BILE),EARTH(BLACK BILE)

IMBALANCE = SICKNESS
Sickness ?
Sickness :why do we even get sick?
-According to galen,sickness comes from an
imbalance in the body’s elements

-Today, we know that there are two major kinds

of diseases: infectious and non-infectious.
Infectious diseases are caused by pathogens
such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites.
These pathogens can enter the body through the
air we breathe, the food and drink we consume or
through openings in the skin, such as cuts.
Sickness: A process
Terms to remember
Disease: the medical conception of a pathological abnormality diagnosed by
means of signs and symptoms

Illness: the subjective interpretation of problems that are perceived as health-

related, i.e. the experience of symptoms Sickness: the social organisation and
performance of illness/disease, i.e. the “sick-role”
EXCEPTIONS: THE PROCESS
Illness/disease may involve DISEASE MAY EXIST WITHOUT
suffering without complaint SYMPTOMS
ROLE OF MEDICINE
BASIS
“To promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public
health.” - American Medical Association

Concerned with:

● Health & welfare of the human individual

● Progress

● Performance in the broad field of human biology

Health of populations
A population's mortality rate and its main causes of death reflect its standard
of living and way of life. Access to medical care is part of the standard of living,
and medicine can affect mortality, but other aspect of the standard of living
are the main determinants of population health.
Prevention & Medical Care
Medicine’s most effective interventions are preventive. These may be clinical
eg. immunisation or involve the profession in campaigns for social change.

Medical care may not be the main determinant of a population's health, but it
makes an enormous difference to a person's experience of being ill. This
suggests that the patient's experience should be at the heart of medicine.
KEY THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE
- Social consensus + stable social systems

- Sickness as a deviance from this stability

- Responsibilities of doctor and patient

- Good health and effective medical care are essential for the smooth
functioning of society. Patients must perform the “sick role” in order to be
perceived as legitimately ill and to be exempt from their normal
obligations. The physician-patient relationship is hierarchical: The
physician provides instructions, and the patient needs to follow them.
 Expectations
1. Sick people should not be perceived as having caused
their own health problem.

2. Sick people must want to get well

3. Sick people are expected to have their illness confirmed

by a physician or other health-care professional and to
follow the professional’s instructions in order to become
well
Physicians too...
1. Diagnose the patient’s sickness

2. Decide how to treat it

3. Help the patient become well

Issues/Criticism
● Applies more to acute (short-term) illnesses rather than the chronic
(illnesses)

● Ignores the social background that affects the illness and the quality of
medical care/treatment given.

● Hierarchy in the physician-patient relationship

CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE
- Social divisions and conflict

- Power of the medical profession

- Inequalities in health as product of capitalism

GOOD SIDE: They believe that they are most qualified to
diagnose and treat problems.

BAD SIDE: They realized that their financial status will

improve if they characterize social problems as medical
problems. Thus, monopolizing the treatment of the
problems.
Issues/Criticism
- Overly harsh and its criticism of physicians’ motivation far too cynical. Scientific
medicine has greatly improved the health of people around the world.

- Although physicians are certainly motivated, as many people are, by economic

considerations, their efforts to extend their scope into previously nonmedical areas
also stem from honest beliefs that people’s health and lives will improve if
these efforts succeed.

- Certainly there is some truth in this criticism of the conflict approach, but the
evidence of inequality in health and medicine and of the negative aspects of the
medical establishment’s motivation for extending its reach remains compelling.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM PERSPECTIVE
- Medicine is processes of negotiation and adjustment to reach a
consensus and restore harmony.

- Health and illness are social constructions: Physical and mental conditions
have little or no objective reality but instead are considered healthy or ill
conditions only if they are defined as such by a society.

- Physicians “manage the situation” to display their authority and medical

knowledge.
Issues/Criticism
Critics fault the symbolic interactionist approach for implying that no illnesses
have objective reality. Many serious health conditions do exist and put people
at risk for their health regardless of what they or their society thinks.

Critics also say the approach neglects the effects of social inequality for health
and illness. Despite these possible faults, the symbolic interactionist approach
reminds us that health and illness do have a subjective as well as an objective
reality.
THE SICK ROLE AND STIGMA
WHAT IS EXPECTED FROM THE
DIFFERENT ROLES?
THE PATIENT
PATIENT: SICK ROLE

● Allowed to give up on some activities - depending on the nature and

severity of the condition.

● Deserve care

IT IS ALSO EXPECTED FROM THE PATIENT THAT

● Must get well as quickly as possible.

● Should seek professional health.

THE DOCTOR
DOCTOR: PROFESSIONAL ROLE

RIGHTS

● Examination and insight to intimate areas physically and personally

● Autonomy and authority

OBLIGATIONS

● High degree of skills and knowledge

● Act in the interest of the patient (e.g. patient centered care)

For Patients
ADVANTAGES:

● Removes fear of punishment for sickness

Allows time to recover

LIMITATIONS:

● Right 1: Temporarily relieved of normal responsibilities - but not all

relieved of responsibilities. (e.g, parents)
For Doctors
ADVANTAGES:

● Enhances recovery for illness.

LIMITATIONS:

● Ethical issues - Doctors values may conflict with the patient.

● Maintaining confidentiality - issues that are sensitive to patients

● Difficulty in determining the severity of symptoms

● Relying on the patient’s report

● Clinical and management issues

For Society
ADVANTAGES:

● Controls deviance

● Maximise role performance

LIMITATIONS:

● Not held responsible for deviant behavior, therefore, not punished

● What happens if chronic disease patients may want to get better?

DEVIANCE
● Illness: deviance from normal social roles

● Deviance conditions: conditions that set their possessors apart from

“normal” people

● Results in marking them a socially unacceptable, inferior (mental illness,

severe burns, deafness, AIDS)

● Diagnosis may result in rejection from society- attaches STIGMA to the

patient
STIGMA
● The situation of an individual who is disqualified from full social
acceptance Enacted: discrimination by others on grounds of being
imperfect

● Felt: internalized sense of shame, fear and discrimination

● Doctor role: diagnosis of disease to stigma

● Shame/guilt leads to delay in seeking treatment

STIGMATISED CONDITIONS
● Physical disability

● Mental disability

● Mental illness

● Facial disfigurement

● Epilepsy

● HIV/AIDS

● Leprosy

● TB
SOURCES
● http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-
9780199756384/obo-9780199756384-0034.xml

● http://open.lib.umn.edu/socialproblems/chapter/13-1-sociological-
perspectives-on-health-and-health-care/

● http://www.icsmsu.com/exec/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ABS-
Sociology.pdf

● https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1515762/?page=2