Week 4_2 Social Construction of Health

Question 1

Health as a Social Construct?

Answer 1

• Health exists both at a biological (disease) level and a
  social (illness) level
• Meaning we attach to illness is social (not natural)
• Medical knowledge and social responses are shaped by social forces
  “In contrast to the biomedical model, which assumes that
  diseases are universal and invariant to time or place, social constructionists emphasize how the meaning and experience
  of illness is shaped by cultural and social systems”

Question 2

Conceptual Distinction between Disease and Illness

Answer 2

Disease = biological
condition, medical knowledge, structural

Illness = social meaning of condition, social construction of Illness, behaviors and conditions, symbolic

Question 3

Social Construction of
Medical Knowledge (structural)

Answer 3

• Origins of professional beliefs
• Practices of diagnosis and treatment
• Socialization of medical providers
• Professional and institutional practices of the health care system
• Larger social structures of society

Question 4

Social Construction of Illness
Behaviours and Conditions
(symbolic)

Answer 4

• Lay experiences of health
  behaviour or condition
• Interaction and experiences at
  personal and group levels
• Illness experience

Question 5

Cultural Meanings of Illness
* Stigmatized illnesses

Answer 5

Stigma is a cultural mark that signals, reduces,
and devalues a person with a condition from
“whole and usual” to “tainted and discounted.”
Stigmatized illnesses mean people are seen as
“less than full” emanating from potential
sources like individual failure.

Question 6

Cultural Meanings of Illness
* Contested illnesses

Answer 6

Contested illnesses are those that are
questioned or questionable by some medical
professionals. Professionals may tell patients
it is either a diagnosable disease or “just in
your head,” which has consequences for the
kind of treatment they receive.

Question 7

Cultural Meanings of Illness
* Disability

Answer 7

• Distinguish impairment
  (attribute) from disability
  (social experience and
  meaning of impairment)
• Physical or mental
  impairments that are socially
  defined as abnormal and
  restricting functioning
  (therefore in need of
  accommodations)

Question 8

Illness Experiences as Socially
Constructed

Answer 8

• Patienthood vs.
  Illness experience
  -Interaction with health-care providers vs. interactions with others and understanding of
  sickness day-to-day

Biographical
disruption
-Identify as “cancer
survivor” and join
social groups

• More attention to bodily experiences, rupture to concept of self,
  disrupt our social relationships and normal resource use

Question 9

Medical Knowledge as Socially
Constructed

Answer 9

• Race, Class, Gender
  Inequality
• Case of childbirth, PMS,
  menopause
• Social context of
  research
• Incentives in research
• Medicalization
• Incentives in pharma
  companies and social
  movements