SOCIOL 1A06 Lecture Notes - Talcott Parsons, Alternative Medicine, Symbolic Interactionism
12 May 2013
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Health, illness, aging, and dying are socially constructed and structured by social categories (i. e. class, gender, race, immigrant status etc. ) Importance of social support, social stigma, social and public policy. Sociologists would talk about the ways that health is socially constructed. Health is constructed by: race, gender, social status, positive relationship between ses and health. Hypothesis: not just access to economic resources but the other level is our perceptions on inequality, where we stand in relation to other people. They refer to this as the hierarchy stress perspective. Which says: when we compare our situation to others who we feel are doing better then we experience stress and this can adversely impact our health. More likely to live in poverty when they are elderly. Men have a more likelihood of dying than women. Women tend to experience greater morbidity as compared to men: more chronic illness on-going condition.
