health and medicine

• ________ of health emphasizes the socio-cultural aspects of the discipline’s approach to physical, objectively definable phenomena.

  the social construction
• ________ contains within itself customary rights and obligations based on the social norms that surround it.

  The sick role
• The idea of the ________ of the illness experience is based on the concept of reality, which is itself a social construction. In other words, there is no objective reality; there are only our own perceptions of it.

  Social construction
• Structural functional theorists


  Health is vital to the stability of the society, and therefore sickness is a sanctioned form of deviance
• Structural functional theorists


  The sick role exemption is temporary and relative to the severity of the illness. The exemption also requires that a physician must certify that the illness is genuine
• Structural functional theorists


  Since the sick are unable to fulfill their normal societal roles, their sickness weakens the society
• Structural functional theorists


  Doctors serve as gatekeepers, deciding who is healthy and who is sick, a relationship in which the doctor has all the power
• Social conflict theorists


  Issues with the healthcare system, as with most other social problems, are rooted in capitalist society
• Social conflict theorists


  People with money and power in the dominant group are the ones who make decisions about how the healthcare system will be run. They therefore ensure that they will have healthcare coverage, while simultaneously ensuring that subordinate groups stay subordinate through lack of access
• Social conflict theorists


  Alongside the health disparities created by class inequalities, there are a number of health disparities created by racism, sexism, ageism, and heterosexism
• Social conflict theorists


  In the United States, a disproportionate number of racial minorities have less economic power, so they bear a great deal of the burden of poor health
• Social conflict theorists


  Doctors hold a disproportionate amount of power in the doctor/patient relationship, which provides them with extensive social and economic benefits
• Social conflict theorists


  Health care structure is dependent on profitability
• Symbolic interaction theorists


  Health and illness are both socially constructed, and they would focus on the specific meanings and causes people attribute to illness
• Symbolic interaction theorists


  Medicalization and demedicalization affect which provider responds to the patient, how people respond to the patient, and how people view the personal responsibility of the patient
• Obesity is on the rise in high-income nations and has been linked to many diseases, including cardiovascular problems, musculoskeletal problems, diabetes, and respiratory issues
• One of the biggest contributors to medical issues in low-income countries is the lack of access to clean water and basic sanitation resources
• Health care disparities between racial and ethnic groups are based on the level of healthcare that these racial/ethnic groups receive
• One of the strongest and most consistent predictors of a person's morbidity and mortality experience is that person's socioeconomic status (SES)
• Women live longer overall than men in the United States