SOC382 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Victim Blaming, Erving Goffman, Sick Role
Document Summary
Chapter 1- the sociology of health, illness, and health care. Instead of studying broad patterns of illness, sociologists can study experiences of those who live with illness on a day-to-day basis. Similarly, they can study the experiences of health care providers. They can analyze the health care system as a whole ho(cid:449) the(cid:455)"(cid:448)e de(cid:448)eloped, (cid:272)o(cid:373)pa(cid:396)ed the strengths and weaknesses of different systems, explored how systems can be improved, etc. Based on the belief that illness is a biological condition (product of bad luck, genetics, or poor lifestyle choices) Developed out of the germ theory of disease: emerged in the late 1870s, based on the discovery that illness can be caused by germs that infect various parts of the body. Problematic because it individualizes (by focusing attention on the individual) and depoliticizes (by hiding or minimizing the social context) health. The sociological perspective the sociological imagination (mills)