Sociology 2179A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Medical Sociology, Sociological Perspectives, Social Constructionism

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 2179A/B
• Professor: Michael Rooyakkers

Document Summary

Disciplines with an interest in health and illness: medicine, anthropology, history, geography, sociology. Assumptions of the medical model: mind-body dualism. The mind is separate from the body, the interaction between the two is limited, ex: can"t order ourselves to stop our heart from beating, or to stop breathing. This means our body can have an illness without us being aware of it. For every disease, there is a specific cause -> all the doctor needs to do is figure out what is that cause ex: smoking causes lung cancer, over eating causes obesity. Biological reductionism -> disease is located in the body. Body as machine the body is mechanically engineered with unique functioning parts that can be fixed when broken. Medical model: therefore, the medical model both individualizes (by focusing attention on the individual) and depoliticizes (by hiding or minimizing the social context) the problem of illness.