Sociology of Health

Name Nikky Hart's 5 features of the biomedical model

1) Disease is PHYSICAL

2) Doctors are ELITE

3) Medicine is a CURE

4) Illness is TEMPORARY

5) Treatment is SPECIAL

Why are doctors seen as elite?

Because doctors have a knowledge that can cure illness and save lives, that others don't have and so they are seen as above others, who cant cure illness.

Which social class has the highest infant mortality rate?

Working class (social class 5)

Name the 4 possible explanations for health inequality

Cultural

Social

Artefact

Structural

What is meant by the Inverse Care Law?

The Inverse Care Law is a law that states that those who need the health care most, recieve the poorest health care.

Name 3 "groups" that are more likely to suffer mental illness

Afro- carribean people

Married women

Working class people

Women (more than men)

What does Szasz think mental illness is?

Szasz believes that mental illness is a social construct and it doesn't really exist.

What is Iatrogenesis?

Illich's theory that the medical elite actually cause bad health - e.g. MRSA

Name 3 types of Iatrogenesis as described by Illich

Clinical - harm done by ineffective diagnosis

Social - Doctors have taken control of people's lives - medicalisation of social life

Cultural - Destruction of traditional ways of dealing with pain/death/sickness