Sociology 2246A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Childbirth, Involuntary Treatment, Social Anxiety Disorder
19 Oct 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Illness exists because our society has defined it as existing. Are there conditions that are not seen as illnesses today, but were seen as illnesses in the past: masturbation, homosexuality. One could argue that this simply reflects the advances of science as we learn more, we better know how to identify illness but that doesn"t explain why we have variation btwn cultures today. Viewing illness as a social construction directly conflicts with a medical model approach to illness. A medical model approach to illness contends that illness reflects an objective label, is not morally laden & is apolitical. Illness is an subjective category: what is labeled illness may be contested. First, illness is a subjective category bc what is labeled illness is not always recognized as such & may be contested by some social groups: 2 examples that can be given.
