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SHDH2040 Lecture 3
SHDH2040 Lecture 3
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1. CHANGE IN THE MEANINGS OF ILLNESS
Primitive society:
Illness was defined as an autonomous forces or “being”, such as an
evil spirit that attacked people and settled within their bodies in order
to cause them pain or death.
Middle Age:
People define illness as a punishment for sin, and care of the sick was
regarded as religious charity.
Modern time:
Illness is define as a state of suffering as the result of a disease.
This definition is based upon the modern scientific view that an illness
is an abnormal biological affliction or mental abnormality with a 4
cause, a characteristic train of symptoms, and a method of treatment.
Each society’s definition of illness becomes
institutionalized within its cultural patterns.
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2. FROM PHYSICAL TO SOCIAL
UNDERSTANDING
Disease:
an adverse physical state, consisting of a physiological dysfunction with
and individual.
Illness:
a subjective state, pertaining to an individual’s psychological awareness
of having a disease and usually causing that person to modify his or her
behavior.
Sickness:
a social state, signifying an impaired social role for those who are ill.
The wider society has normative behavior and expectative for people 6
who are defined as sick.
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DISCUSSION:
COMPARING THE DISEASE OF A TREE AND A HUMAN
Tree can recover or they can die of disease. (Branches become
lifeless, leaves wither, and roots and trunks function poorly)
This reflexivity means that humans typically suffer not merely from
disease.
They also suffer from their experience of illness and the meanings 9
that they and other attach to it.
3. ILLNESS AS DEVIANCE
Durkheim (1938) asserted that every society has its own
set of norms.
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The very existence of social norms means that there will
be deviance in all societies.
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Furthermore, the practices for sanctioning deviance
(such as punishing the criminal or treating the sick
person) reaffirm and revitalize the collective sentiments
and maintain social solidarity.
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4. PARSONS: THE SICK ROLE THEORY
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Society must deal with individuals who differ significantly from
its norms.
Act for welfare of patient and community rather than for self-
interest;
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7. PROBLEMS OF THE SICK ROLE
THEORY
7.1 The sick role is not necessarily temporary
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7.2 The sick role is not always voluntary
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E.g. children, loss of consciousness, too sick to have
good judgement, what etc.?
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7.3 Variability in sick role legitimacy
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o Even today sickness is not a legitimate exemption for
many workers, and they have no legal protection of
their jobs
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o there are also other kind of sickness that, while not
considered the fault of the sick person, are
nonetheless stigmatized.
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o The source of stigma is not the disease itself but
rather the social imputation of a negative connotation.
E.g Leprosy is highly stigmatized in India, but far less
so in neighboring Sri Lanka.
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8. DISCRIMINATION
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9. STIGMATIZATION
Humans communicate through symbol.
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DISCUSSION:
WHAT DOES EACH WORD IN THE FOLLOWING CONNOTE
TO YOU?
inflammation—genital inflammation
Organ dysfunction—sex organ dysfunction
Addiction—Sexual Addiction
Symbolic annihilation
The media ignored, trivialized, or condemned certain types of people
or labels.
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TAKING THE EXAMPLE OF AIDS
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TAKING THE EXAMPLE OF AIDS
https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht2QQLb7PGQ&list=PL_
p04dLUcBG174mr8yqgR-37W1mx6WouP&index=73&
app=desktop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46NVqTwljHM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDW9mQYHEjY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9hHnUnc25Y
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmjqemq62r0
10. THE MEDICALIZATION OF DEVIANCE
Religious, legal, and medical institutions have all contributed
to the definition of deviance in society. (e.g. stealing)
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11. MEDICALIZATION AS:
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF HEALTH & ILLNESS
Medicalization is a social and historical process that
defines non-medical problems as medical ones.
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12. MEDICALIZATION OF MADNESS
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12.2 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM-IV)
various settings
DISCUSSION:
THE DSM CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
Is it the reality?
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MYTH OR FACT?!
Is mental illness completely explained by biochemistry, physiology
and neurology? (mental illness = physical disease, i.e. disease of the
brain)?
post-traumatic stress
-the emergence of strong campaign and political activities of Vietnam war veterans 48
-added in 1980
13. READINGS
1. Freund, Peter E. S. & McGuire, Meredith B. 1995.
Health, illness and the social body: a critical sociology
(chapter 6). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
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