Sociology analyses the social determinants of health and utilizes several concepts and theories to understand health and illness. Draw on two sociological theories to explain the social determinants of health and discuss how this differs from the medical model.

Introduction

The term “sociology” covers a wide area including human societies, cultures, relationships, and bonding. The essay focuses on the key sociological theories and concepts so that the readers can get a clear picture of the topic and can understand the established link between several social elements and their impact on the health aspects of humans.

Since in the current times, several factors that exist in society have an impact on an individual such as social-economic status, family, income, etc, a holistic picture has been presented which is integral to enhancing the health and well-being of an individual (Cockerham, 2014).

The key sociological school of thought has been highlighted in the essay along with the biomedical model since it is a key perspective that concerns the overall biological process that takes place in human beings (Cockerham, 2007). Some of the vital social determinants have been presented that affect the health conditions of individuals. The key implications on healthcare professionals have been covered so that the most effective techniques relating to health can be used that will help the overall community and society to benefit.

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Sociology and Significance of its Perspectives

When the sociology approach is adopted in the health domain, health professionals evaluate the health condition of individuals from a social context and take into account the various social aspects of the patient such as his experiences, beliefs, culture, interactive ability, etc while assessing his situation. This model helps to establish the link between the social life of an individual and his health scenario (Fox, 2016).

It is vital to understand the scope of sociology so that its various perspectives can be understood more simply. The sociology scope includes the study of the interaction, development, model, and total behavior of human beings that function at an organized group level.

Sociology is not different from other disciplines since there is no single sociological perspective relating to social reality. It encompasses several paradigms that help the knowledge to expand with time (Germov, 2014).

The approaches have been categorized into two types namely social structural approaches and interpretative or subjective approaches. The former model states that society can be assessed objectively by recognizing and scrutinizing the structure that exists in society. The latter approach suggests that focus must be given to individual social actors and not the entire behavior of the society (Germov, 2014).

The application of the sociological perspectives is important to study the health and illness aspects of individuals since it combines the acquired knowledge to assess the particular experience relating to the illness and it makes an attempt to have a better grip on the social structuring of the human health and disease state.

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Two sociological perspectives

In the earlier section, the two categories of sociological theories have been introduced namely social structural theory and interpretative theory.

The social structural approach includes perspectives namely the functional perspective of health and illness that emphasizes coordination and stability within society. E.g. Health becomes a necessity for the smooth functioning of society, and the matrix perspective of health and illness states that material production is the foundation of all human activities. E.g. The health outcome is influenced by production and economic scenario in communities (Giddens & Sutton, 2014).

The interpretative approach includes perspectives such as the symbolic interactionist perspective of health and illness that focuses on the language and communication of individuals. E.g. A disease diagnosis can act as a label that influences the behavior of others towards him, the social constructionist perspective of health and illness which states that facts are established through social interaction. E.g. Humans can sense their bodies and other bodily disturbances (Jones, Bradbury & Boutillier, 2013).

Thus the two key sociological schools of thought that have come into existence with time help to apply the concept to the health system so that a better analysis of the health conditions of individuals can be conducted so that the best possible methods can be used to treat the disease or ailment. Both objective and subjective realities can be fused and used so that the ultimate benefit is enjoyed.

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Biomedical model

The biomedical model offers a completely different view relating to the health and disease aspects as compared to the sociological models that have been highlighted in the previous section. The biomedical model of health focuses on an individual’s physical aspects, biological agents such as genes, risk factors, etc to determine the cause of an ailment in a human being (Heil, 2014).

The disease pattern that is exhibited at the absolute population level is justified and explained entirely based on the reasons that appear on the individual level. It6 is vital to understand that the biomedical model is not incorrect but its focus limits its outlook since it only takes into account the individual agents such as disease vectors, genes, individual persons, and their specific behavior (Kellahear, 1990).

The model does not emphasize the environmental and contextual aspects while analyzing the health and illness of an individual which plays a significant role in the health situation. Thus it can be stated that this perspective adds value to the clinical practice and research layout but it has major limitations in terms of targeting the social determinants of health.

Social Determinants of Health

The social determinants of the health approach take into account the important social elements that come into play and have an impact on the health conditions of individuals. It includes the key elements that are active in the economic, social, political, and psychological environment of an individual such as the economic opportunities and resources, living conditions, home, and working environment, accessibility to medical care, personal behavior, etc. (Schofield, 2015).

The social determinants of health can be understood from three different perspectives namely domain, level, and pathway. Domain refers to the particular area that has an impact on the health and well-being of a human being such as education, housing facility, socio-economic condition, food model, etc.

Level perspective comprises the geographical scale of the particular domain that affects health like family, neighborhood, community, city, etc. The pathway is the mechanism that is adopted by individuals in society to interact with the surrounding population at various levels (Van Krieken, 2000). Examples include exposure to hazards or toxins, discriminatory treatment, physical or mental trauma, poor access to proper healthcare services, etc.

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Key Implications for human service practitioners

The various schools of thought that exist relating to the health aspects highlight the fact that the social environment of an individual has a major role since it has an impact on the overall well-being of a person (Schofield, 2015). The environmental surrounding must be taken into consideration so that a holistic picture is presented that highlights the vital elements that have an impact on the health conditions of an individual.

Thus healthcare practitioners must try to analyze the entire situation before examining the health of a patient and trying to determine the exact cause of an ailment. Since no element functions on its own, medical experts need to take into account the various external factors that come into play and affect the health of a person (Van Krieken, 2000). Thus the approach adopted by health practitioners must focus on the holistic picture so that the health issues can be identified in the best possible manner after considering the various sociological perspectives. This would help to create the most effective and healthy intervention techniques for people (Kellahear, 1990).

E.g. Suppose an individual is obese, several factors might be the reason for the overweight such as genes,  inactive lifestyle, high junk food consumption, alcohol consumption, stress level, etc. Thus if medical practitioners only focus on the biological factors, they will fail to understand the role of other elements that lead to obesity of the person.

Conclusion

The highlighting point of the essay is the social elements that come into play and have an impact on the health conditions and overall well-being of an individual. Healthcare professionals need to adopt the social models of health along with the biomedical model so that they can get a clear idea of the health and disease condition of individuals. Since several perspectives exist, it is necessary to consider the individual state along with the external environment so that the right examination of a person can be conducted and accordingly the best treatment can be provided that suits the affected person. The professionals must try to identify the key social determinants of health since they play an active role to influence the overall health and well-being of a person. Thus the various schools of thought that have come into existence have been created to improve the physical and psychological health of people by focusing on their individual and environmental factors.

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References

Cockerham, W. C. (2014). The sociology of health in the United States: recent theoretical contributions. Ciencia & saude coletiva, 19(4), 1031-1039.

Cockerham, W.C (2007). Medical Sociology. In Medical Sociology (10th ed) (pp. 1-20). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Fox, N. J. (2016). Health sociology from post-structuralism to the new materialisms. Health: 20(1), 62-74.

Germov, J (2014). Imagining Health Problems as Social Issues. In J. Germov (Ed.), Second Opinion; An Introduction to Health Sociology, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, pp.5-22

Germov, J (2014). Theorising Health: Major Theoretical Perspectives in Health Sociology. In J. Germov (Ed.), Second Opinion; An Introduction to Health Sociology, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, pp.23-39

Giddens, A., Sutton, P. (2014), Essential Concepts in Sociology, p 4-26, Polity, UK

Jones, P., Bradbury, L. Boutillier, S.(2013) Introducing Sociology Second Edition, Polity, pp1-103

Heil, D., (2014) Wellbeing and Wellness In J. Germov (Ed.), Second Opinion; An Introduction to Health Sociology, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, pp.23-39

Kellahear, A. (1990). What is Sociology and why study it? (Chapter One). In A Kellehear (Ed.), Every student’s guide to sociology: A quick and plain speaking introduction. South Melbourne: Thomas Nelson Australia.

Schofield, T (2015). A Sociological Approach to Health Determinants Cambridge University Press, Australia, pp16-32 and 53-55,

Van Krieken R. (2000). What is sociology? In Van Krieken,R., Smith,P ,Habibis,D., McDonald,K, Haralambos,M.,Holborn,M. (2000) Sociology: Themes and Perspectives (pp. 1-35). Frenchs Forest, N.S.W. Pearson Australia. link: http://ereadings.cdu.edu.au/view/cdu:20848