SOCI201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Talcott Parsons, Sick Role, Plastic Surgery

• School: University of Delaware
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOCI201
• Professor: Best Joel

Document Summary

Two hundred years ago, bleeding was a standard medical treatment. Vaccinations (from cowpox to prevent smallpox) were greeted with skepticism. Early medicine was based on what was observed or could be observed. 18th century medical education--using the cadavers of hanged criminals. Cruel because they cannot rise from the dead. Much more serious, but still don"t really know much. Many people died from cholera (people thought it was bad air) Professionalization-a process where people try to bring some form of work a certain kind of control (teaching people) under. Associations control medicine (ama, cvrn, aha, state medical boards) From the family doctor to heroes of scientific medicine. As bigger diseases (smallpox, cholera) were defeated, smaller diseases (polio) came to the forefront. They came up with a vaccine for polio. Ama sought to stamp out quacks (brinkley) and rival medical models (chiropractic) The sick role has both rights (one of which: excused from other role obligations)