The Conflict Theory And Functionalism In Sociology Of Health And Illness

The Conflict Theory and Health

Conflict theory

The conflict theory is an essential perspective of sociology that lays an emphasis on the materialistic interpretation of dialectical analysis methods, thereby providing an explanation for the existing social patterns. Conflict theory generally draw attention to several power differentials. This refers to the inherent larger influence and power that certain helping professionals possess, in contrast to the people who are helped by them. One such power differential is class conflict. Karl Marx was the father of the conflict theory and established it as an essential component of four different sociological paradigm. A prime proclamation of this Marxist sociological perspective is that it considers material production as one of the most central aspects of all human activities (Amzat & Razum, 2014). The conflict theory holds the view that the superstructure of a certain society such as, its legal, political, health and educational systems are most often formed and governed by the economic base of the society. There is a growing body of evidence that persons living in marginalized, downgraded and poor socio-economic societies die earlier and often report worse health outcomes, in comparison to individuals from the higher socio-economic communities (Weiss & Lonnquist, 2017). In other words, the presence of social stratification or social inequality is responsible for characterizing the quality of health and its associated services. People belonging to disadvantaged social upbringings are at an increased likelihood of being diagnosed as ill and receiving insufficient healthcare services.

The conflict approach by Marx also evaluates the labours taken by physicians and other healthcare professionals over the past decades with the aim of controlling the exercise of medicine, whilst defining a plethora of social problems as biomedical ones (Pietromonaco, Uchino & Dunkel Schetter, 2013). The motivation for physicians to do so can be categorized as both good and evil. On the positive side, the medical practitioners hold the belief that they are extremely qualified for diagnosing major problems, and providing immediate treatment to all those individuals who have been diagnosed with the problems. On the other hand, these practitioners have also accepted that their monetary position in the society has the capability of improvement, following their success in characterization of social problems as medical and dominating their treatment (Geist, 2013). One such example is obstetrical care, where midwives or their equivalents helped pregnant females deliver babies. Physicians in the nineteenth century claimed their efficacy over midwives and won a legislation, thereby gaining authority for child delivery. While recognizing the inadequate training in midwives, they also identified the lucrative feature of obstetrical care. One major explanation provided by the conflict theory in terms of health and illness is that a design exists in the society in a way that provides benefit to few people, at the cost of majority. The prevalence and incidence of chronic diseases are found to increase among people aged 65 years or more, thereby making it mandatory for them to refer to medical institutions, with the aim of optimal quality of life and wellbeing (Ritzer & Stepnisky, 2017).

Power Differentials in Healthcare

At the stage of the production process, health is found to be most affected either straight in terms of stress-related poor health, injuries and industrial illnesses, or indirectly via the wider impacts of the process related with commodity production, existing within the modern society. These production processes generate environmental pollution, whilst the stages that involve a consumption of the commodities are found to exert long-term health impacts. These are most commonly related to chemical additives, consumption of processed foods, and car accidents. Furthermore, according to this theory, health and illness are governed at their stages of distribution. Wealth and income are therefore considered major determinants of the standard of living. This in turn controls the place where the people live, access to healthcare services, educational opportunities, dietary patterns, and recreational prospects.

This shows complete difference with the biomedical model of health and illness primarily considers health with the help of a reductionist approach and views it in certain mechanical aspects such as, diagnosis, prognosis, assessment, and treatment. Moreover, presenting complaints or signs and symptoms reported by a patient are considered imperative for understanding the major physical or psychological disturbance that the person suffers from (Sarafino & Smith, 2014). In other words, the affected people form the centre of the biomedical model that predominantly concentrates on illness or disease and takes efforts to return optimal health to a stage of pre-illness.

Functionalist approach

The functionalist approach was conceived by Parsons in 1951 and holds a perspective that effective medical care and good health are imperative for the enhanced ability of a society to function properly. Poor health is found to create a major impairment in the ability of the human body to adorn the essential roles in the community (Parsons, 2017). Presence of a large number of unhealthy people in the society deteriorates the functioning and makes the stability suffer. This theoretical viewpoint stresses the vital steadiness and collaboration within modern societies. Social events are elucidated with mention to the roles they accomplish in allowing continuity within a society. The approach considers a society as a biological organism and suggests that the entirety of it is composed of interconnected parts, which is a direct manifestation of general accord on core norms and standards (Turner & Holton, 2014). The process of consensus is seemingly attained through arrangement of human behaviour. In other words, this approach is mainly associated with themes related to ‘sick role’, and the pertaining issues of illness.

The Functionalism Approach

In order to consider an individual as legitimately sick, Parsons said that there was a need of meeting several expectations. These expectations were referred to by him as ‘sick roles’ (Colina, Marrone, Ingram & Sánchez, 2017). First, no sick people should be considered as being responsible their ill health, or physiological problem. Upon intake of foods that are rich in fat content, people are on the verge of gaining weight and becoming obese, thereby becoming more vulnerable to cardiovascular abnormalities. This in turn would evoke less sympathy, compared to situations where good nutrition was practiced and there was proper weight maintenance. Moreover, the approach stated that sick people must have the desire of becoming well (Wood, Gardner & Harms, 2015). Failure to display an eagerness of getting well or, facing worse situations, are professed as falsifying their disease or malingering even after acquiring good health. In such situations, these sick people are no longer thought of as rightfully ill by the individuals who are known to them, or more commonly, by the civilisation itself (Martin, Karanika?Murray, Biron & Sanderson, 2016).

Furthermore, sick people are also projected to get their disease established by some physician or healthcare professional, in addition to showing adherence to the instructions provided by the professional to get rid of the illness. Furthermore, failure of a sick person to do so, makes him/her loses the opportunity of adoring the ‘sick role’. Thus, functionalist perspective identifies health as an essential prerequisite for proper functioning of the common society (Burnham, 2014). To fall sick is categorized as failing in terms of fulfilment of the role of an individual in the society. Hence, the approach considers illness as a major form of ‘unmotivated deviance’. This deviance or illness can be regulated by focusing on the concept of the ‘sick role’ and the accountability of the medical professionals in providing assistance to an individual regarding their sick status.

This can be differentiated from the biomedical model of health and illness where health is considered to comprise of freedom from suffering and pain, in addition to elimination of disease, thereby contributing to attainment of a state of good health (Sarafino & Smith, 2014). The biomedical model principally focuses on a range of biological factors and eradicates the role of psychological, environmental, and social factors on human health.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that there are numerous perceptible variances in the forms of incidence and prevalence of diseases in the society. Health and medicine are some of the most essential domains that need sociological explanation. In other words, social health deals with the ability of an individual to develop a sustaining interpersonal association with others. It is also associated with the ability of the person to get comfortably adapted to a range of social circumstances, which in turn would determine the health and overall wellbeing. Thus, the social determinants of health are primarily responsible for the onset of health inequities, thereby resulting in a major difference in the health status between societies.

The Sick Role in Functionalism

Health is most commonly referred to as a state of an individual that involves complete physical, psychological and social wellbeing. It is not just restricted to absence of disease in a person. There exists social stratification or some kind of social differentiation in the community where people are grouped by the society into different socioeconomic divisions based on their income and occupation, social status and wealth or derive political and social power (Patton et al., 2016). Moreover, all individuals share a unique relationship with his/her environment, which in turn plays an essential role in determining the state of health and wellness of the person. Sociology of health and illness has the primary benefit of conducting an investigation and examination of the correlation and association between the society and an individual. Therefore, sociology investigates the influence of social life on disease rates and subsequent mortality (Weiss & Lonnquist, 2017). Although conduction of a medical research is beneficial in gaining a sound understanding on health statistics, sociological explanation of a certain illness would facilitate explanation of factors that make an individual more likely to suffer from certain diseases.

References:

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Burnham, J. C. (2014). Why sociologists abandoned the sick role concept. History of the Human Sciences, 27(1), 70-87. https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695113507572

Colina, S., Marrone, N., Ingram, M., & Sánchez, D. (2017). Translation quality assessment in health research: A functionalist alternative to back-translation. Evaluation & the health professions, 40(3), 267-293. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163278716648191

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Ritzer, G., & Stepnisky, J. (2017). Modern sociological theory. SAGE Publications. Retrieved from- https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xK74DQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Ritzer,+G.,+%26+Stepnisky,+J.+(2017).+Modern+sociological+theory.+SAGE+Publications&ots=nDHjpI9Dn9&sig=HYL7Mc_F70szjNTJlhkkPYK1GTI#v=onepage&q=Ritzer%2C%20G.%2C%20%26%20Stepnisky%2C%20J.%20(2017).%20Modern%20sociological%20theory.%20SAGE%20Publications&f=false

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Weiss, G. L., & Lonnquist, L. E. (2017). The sociology of health, healing, and illness. Routledge. Retrieved from- https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/51937509/The_Sociology_of_Health_Healing_and_Illness_-_Weiss_Gregory_L.__SRG_.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1534251126&Signature=67x1n2GmWhMPZrfNhw%2Fk4OKdRt0%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DThe_Sociology_of_Health_Healing_and_Illn.pdf 

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