Doctors Have Socially Constructed Power

The Rise (and Fall?) of the Medical Profession

Doctors have a great amount of social power, political power, and prestige for a variety of reasons: They offer a universally valued product—health and longevity.

There is a limited number of doctors due to the extensive education and training and the strict regulation of the profession.

3

What Does It Mean to Be Sick?

Like many other seemingly universal or stable concepts, illness is a social construct: what it means to be sick (or healthy) has changed throughout history and differs from one place

to another.

4

The U.S. Health-Care System

Unlike many other industrialized nations, the United States does not offer universal health care. The four main types of health-care coverage in the United States are: 1. fee-for-service2. health maintenance organizations

(HMOs)3. Medicare4. Medicaid

5

The U.S. Health-Care System

Technological advances in medicine have allowed for: the detection of diseases, genetic anomalies in fetuses which raise difficult ethical questions and have major social implications.

multiple births (often due to assisted reproductive technology) and premature births, which present further medical and ethical dilemmas.

6

Technology and Medicine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7zbFzyactI

Discrepancies in Health Care

There are numerous health discrepancies between races in the

United States, with whites having the best outcomes overall. The starkest differences can be found between

whites and blacks.

8

Discrepancies in Health Care

While some of the discrepancy is due to differences in socioeconomic status, there are still significant differences between whites and blacks with the same income and education level, which implies that racism plays a role in people’s overall health.

9

Discrepancies in Health Care

There are three main theories that attempt to explain why people with higher socioeconomic status have better health: selection theory drift explanation social determinants theory

10

Discrepancies in Health Care

Selection theory

11

the connection between low income and poorer health – has mediating factors. For instance, other factors, like genetics, might affect both socioeconomic status

and health.

Discrepancies in Health Care

The drift explanation

12

states that there is a connection between income and health. If you have poor health, you might be less likely to find gainful

employment.

Discrepancies in Health Care

Social determinants theory

13

states that social status can determine a

person’s health.

Discrepancies in Health Care

Married people tend to live longer, but it is not clear whether marriage actually benefits a person’s health or if healthier people tend to get married.

Women live longer than men, which can be attributed in part to the types of illnesses each sex is more susceptible to as well as to how willing each sex is to seek medical care.

14

Discrepancies in Health Care

Large families and children born close together are both associated with higher child mortality rates, due to greater demands on parents’ financial and emotional resources.

15

The Sociology of Mental Health

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) provides a standard categorization of mental disorders and their definitions. Changes in this manual, particularly from its second to third editions, have strongly influenced how mental illness is understood and treated.

The DSM 5 argued over whether narcissism is a mental illness.

16

The Sociology of Mental Health

There has been a significant increase in the use of pharmaceuticals to treat mental illness. Some negative aspects of this change include:

devaluation of the benefits of talk therapy overprescribing or mis-prescribing of pharmaceuticals

stigma attached to taking medication for mental illness

increasing power of pharmaceutical companies. which have benefited from the growth of the diagnostic approach

17

Global Health

Health disparities between groups within the United States are dwarfed by the disparities that exist between the United States and developing countries.

Many developing countries are still struggling to provide their citizens with safe drinking water, sanitation, and basic health care.

18

Bottled Water and World Healthhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zn0qi80IIY