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UNIT 10 - SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES TASK 1
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This assignment is task 1 for unit 10 sociological perspectives. My work has been graded at distinction level.
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Unit 10: Sociological perspectivesTask 1:
Can inequality make us ill?
P1: Explain how sociological perspectives are applied to the understanding of health and
social care.
Functionalists have a positive approach about health and social care services, for example,
they would have a favourable attitude toward the medical profession since doctors keep
society running smoothly and act as a "social control." Individuals must be healthy,
according to Talcott Parsons, in order for society to function effectively and efficiently.
functionalist sociologists believe that social care services are helpful to society because
they help individuals get well or recover from problems, such as health problems, by
providing support from the social care sector. This will allow people to resume
contributing to society, such as by returning to work, which is something that
functionalists advocate.
Functionalism sees social structure or the organisation of society as more important than
the individual. Individuals are born into society and become the product of all the social
influences around them as they are socialised by various institutions such as the family,
education, media and religion.
Social class can often prevent individuals from accessing health and social care services
due to their fear of judgement or lack of funds to pay for private healthcare, this results in
lower class individuals having poorer health and wellbeing. Due to lower class individuals
often having poorer health, the NHS has since put more funding into areas with high
percentages of ill health and poverty to try and combat the health crisis and subsequently
be able to effectively promote the health and wellbeing of all individuals across the UK, no
matter what their social class is.
P2: Explain how sociological perspectives contribute to the understanding of society
The sum of a society's social institutions is known as a society. The family, education,
economics, politics, religion, and health and social care services are all examples of social
institutions. Sociologists study the structure of these organisations, how they compare, and
how they influence human behaviour. Individuals acquire the culture of their society
through socialisation, which includes language, values and beliefs, rituals and acceptable
ways of acting. The two types of socialisations are primary socialisation which is where
behaviour is learnt within the family and secondary socialisation which is process that
continues as our social life develops through school, peer groups, religious groups and
access to the mass and employment
The functionalist viewpoint sees society as a complex system whose aspects work together
in order to promote unity and stability. This approach is used to determine society from a
perspective, focusing on the social structures that make up society as a whole and
considering both social structure and social functions. Functionalism considers the function
of society's key parts, such as rules, beliefs, traditions, and Talcott Parsons' concept of the
nuclear family created the functionalist position on gender inequality. Gender inequalities,
according to this theory, exist as an effective manner of forming a division of labour, or as a
social structure in which distinct segments are clearly responsible for specific, responsive
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, labour acts. Parsons believed that society had to come to an agreement on how things
should be run so that there would be no conflict between different institutions. They imply
that society makes us behave the way we do because it is made up of individuals, not the
other way around.
Marxists see society as being divided by conflict between the social groups, or classes who
make up society. Marx believed that social change is the natural order of societies. In each
form of society there are those who control property and those who work for them. He also
believed that social change is the natural order of societies in each form of society there are
those who control property and those who work for them.
P3: Compare the biomedical model of health with an alternative model of health.
The biomedical model defines health as the 'absence of disease,' with an emphasis on
identifying and treating people with specific diseases and other medical conditions.
According to this model, health is fundamentally defined as the absence of sickness, and in
times of illness, health professionals' involvement is necessary. The functionalist approach,
in which illness is viewed as societally dysfunctional, aligns well with the biomedical model.
For the functionalist, if people are ill, or adopt the sick role and are exempt from their
normal social responsibilities, they moreover have a duty to cooperate with health
professionals and take all rational steps to get better. The biomedical approach considers
health and sickness to be a social fact, with everyone having an equal risk of being ill. Users
are encouraged to be dependent on service providers under this approach. It ignores social
aspects that may contribute to sickness, instead focusing solely on the illness and
attempting to treat it.
In comparison, the social medical model is an approach that focuses on the social
environmental elements that influence our health and wellbeing, such as the effects of
poverty, bad housing, food, and pollution on our health and wellbeing. They concentrate on
other factors that might lead to sickness. The concept emphasises preventing diseases
rather than treating them and ensuring that the condition does not reoccur. The social
model is more compatible with Karl Marx's beliefs than the functionalists', as the poor are
more likely to have an inadequate food and live in bad conditions. They would also argue
that society's governing classes are unwilling to make the necessary reforms to protect the
poor from illness and sickness. The biomedical model of health has a clear focus on
individual diagnosed illness, and the social model is concerned with the environmental
causes of illness.
P4: Explain the contribution of concepts of health, ill health and disability to service
provision in a local health and social care setting.
The World Health Organisation defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and
social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” They believe that the
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