HEALTH, DISABILITY & AGING

Introduction to Sociology

Adam Isaiah Green

Winter 2013

Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902)

MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY

The study of medicine, health and illness from the perspective of “the social”:

1) The study of the health industry,

including the practice of medicine and the implementation of health insurance

2) The social roots of health, disease, and mental illness

STRESS PROCESS MODEL

RATES OF MORTALITY AMONG WORKING AGE MEN CORRELATED WITH INCOME BELONGING TO THE LESS WELL

OFF HALF OF HOUSEHOLDS (1990s)

 

HEALTH & CLASS STATUS

• http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/national/class/HEALTH-FINAL.html

The only county in Nova Scotia where the incidence of cancer for both women and men is significantly higher than the provincial average is Cape Breton County, the 5th poorest of 18 counties in Nova Scotia and the site of the Sydney Tar Ponds.

Nova Scotia has the second highest cancer death rate and the second lowest median provincial income.

Deaths per 100,000 people due to cancer, and median family income in hundreds of dollars, Canadian provinces, 2003

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island

Quebec

Manitoba

Alberta

British Columbia

Ontario

Saskatchewan

Newfoundland

Class and Exposure to Environmental Risk: Nova

Scotia

Cancer rate Median income

People with HIV/AIDS, 2009 (adult prevalence in parentheses)

Total: 33.3 million (0.8%)

Western andCentral Europe 820,000 (0.2%)

North Africa & Middle East460,000 (0.2%)

Sub-Saharan Africa22.5 million (5.0%)

Eastern Europe & Central Asia1.4 million (0.8%)

South & South-East Asia

4.1 million (0.3%)

Oceania57,000 (0.3%)

North America1.5 million

(0.5%)Caribbean240,000 (1.0%)

South & Central America 2.0 million (0.6%)

East Asia770,000 (0.1%)

32 35 38 41 44 47 50 53 56 59 62 65 68 71 74 77 80 83 86 89

Europe 1600

Lesotho 2009

India 2009

China 2009

Russia 2009 USA 2009

Japan 2009

Canada 2009

Canada 2050

Canada 1867

Life Expectancy, Selected Countries and Years

Class, Illness and DeathClass, Illness and Death Human-environmental factors, such as

industrial pollution Lifestyle factors, such as smoking cigarettes,

excessive use of alcohol and drugs, poor diet, lack of exercise, and social isolation.

Factors related to public health system (government-run programs that ensure clean drinking water, sewage and sanitation services, inoculation against infectious diseases, etc.) and healthcare system (clinics, hospitals and other facilities)

Selected Social Causes and Selected Social Causes and Consequences of Height Consequences of Height

in Human Populationsin Human Populations

HeightProximate social causes

diet

disease

work intensity

Basic social causes

income

inequality

public health

personal hygiene

quality of environment

Social consequences

life expectancy

health

cognitive development

personality

HEIGHT AND RELATIONSHIPS

Peter Paul RubensPeter Paul RubensCimone and Efigenia Cimone and Efigenia (1617)(1617)

Percent of Adults Who are Overweight, Selected Countries, 2007

Percent

1.0% increase, 2001-07 2.3% increase, 2001-07

Overweight adults have a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher (BMI = weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres).

Percent of Canadian Adults Who are Obese, by Province, 2004

Obese adults have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher (BMI = weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres).

Height, Weight and Social Height, Weight and Social StatusStatus

On average, high family income results in good diet; good diet increases stature;

tall people live longer, earn more, and reach the top of their profession more quickly than short people;

overweight women complete fewer months of formal education, earn less, and are less likely to marry than women who are not overweight (overweight men are less likely to marry)

Important TermsImportant Terms

impaired = deficient in physical or mental capacity compared to the norms of society

disabled = incapable of performing within the range of “normal” human activity

ablism = prejudice and discrimination against the disabled

Erectile Dysfunction?

Societal Responses to DisabilitySocietal Responses to Disability Rehabilitation involves curing disabilities

through medical and technological intervention; trying to improve the lives of the disabled by means of care, training, and education; and integrating the disabled into "normal" society.

Elimination involves killing the disabled or sterilizing them and preventing them from having offspring.

Normalization involves disabled people asserting their autonomy and the "dignity of difference."

DEAF A DISABILITY?!

YOUTUBE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5x1BIdM8PQ&feature=related