SOC 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Social Epidemiology, Alternative Medicine, Talcott Parsons

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1100
• Professor: Karyn Freedman

Document Summary

Age, gender, class and race: three out of four canadian children born today will live to at least age 65, throughout the life course, women have better health than men. Initially, the tobacco industry denied that smoking is a threat to health, but conceded that it is harmful 1997 and agreed not to target advertising to youngsters. The tobacco industry now focuses on asia and low-income countries around the world: eating disorders and obesity, eating disorders-anorexia nervosa and bulimia - are tied to cultural expectations of thinness; 93 percent of people who suffer from eating disorders are women: close to a quarter of canadian adults are overweight. Theories of health and medicine: the structural-functional approach considers illness to be dysfunctional because it reduces people"s abilities to perform their roles. Its overreliance on drugs and surgery: overemphasis on the biological rather than the social causes on illness.