Tacot Parsons’s Contribution to the Sociology of Health Essay

In the sociology of medicine Parson (1951) regarded medicine as functional in social terms. By tackling the person’s problems in medical terms the tendency towards deviance that was represented by ill health could be safely directed, until they could return to their normal self. (Lawrence 1994: p 64-65: BMJ 2004: Parson cited in Gabe, Bury & Elston 2006, p 127).

This paper analyzes seven view points on the topic of Philosophy of Healthcare. The seven view points are blended into this paper by discussing what factors highly influenced my decision to choose healthcare as my set profession in life. Also discussing the Nature of Mankind, stating a few qualities that are highly important in our society and give examples of how it is used in our everyday life. This paper will further discuss the Brokenness of Mankind and what I believe are my most important qualities that I will be able to bring into the medical field. Discuss

All too often in regards to medical treatment, physicians are taught everything known about the scientific approaches to disease but still fail to realize the important details of how the disease impacts the individual. Many physicians do not show empathy to their patients and instead just focus on the current diagnosis and the probable outcome. This creates a divide between patient and provider and can even lead to negative feelings of the patient that far outweigh the diagnosis itself. A feeling of hopelessness and despair may accompany the empty feeling that comes with failing to explore the patient’s perspective on care. In this essay, Parrish states,

It focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of the illness, however, in its most narrow form can sometimes fail to address some other important influences on health and wellbeing. The medical model is concerned with the pursuit of cures for the disease.

Patient care is ultimately inadequate if the patient’s goals and preferences have not been assessed. Therefore, it is crucial that the attending physicians have insight into the thoughts of the patient as they go from diagnosis, to treatment and then the likelihood of death when the patient is confronted with a devastating illness. The physician’s task for their chronically ill patient discussed in a class lecture noted the importance of American Psychiatrist George Engel’s Biopsychosocial Model of Health and Illness’s, a view that psychological and social factors influence biological

In the world that we live in today, many people would find it difficult to imagine living in a world where medicine and treatment are not readily available. The replacement of religious explanations to medical and scientific explanations has become a means of social control. If a person is in pain, they can easily set up an appointment with a doctor and receive some sort of medical diagnosis. However, there are certain instances where a problem has not been medicalized, or recognized as a medical problem, and their issue will be dismissed completely. The movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest delves into the idea of medicalization and how it can be used for the good, or for the bad, in terms of the “sick role.” Medicalization in the

Contrary to the belief that medicine should be solely clinical in order to preserve professionalism, narrative medicine is rapidly growing in the medical world and opposes clinical medicine by incorporating feelings and connections. Narrative medicine is the idea that doctors should be empathetic and must learn their patient’s story to build bonds that assist in curing the patient of illness, while supporting them mentally and emotionally. Rita Charon, a distinguished physician and professor at Columbia University, states “narrative medicine proposes an ideal of care and provides the conceptual and practical mean to strive toward that idea” (Charon). Medicine is often a difficult puzzle to solve, but being a genuine, caring human being is not. In his heart gripping book, The Measure of Our Days, Jerome Groopman explores the patient physician relationship giving insightful knowledge on the decision making in diagnosis and in treatment of different patients, but more importantly being a benevolent person. One consistent piece in Groopman’s puzzle of medicine is compassion, as he promotes it in every aspect of his career because it helps the victims of illness and disease understand their ailments, accept their fate, all the while building trust with their physicians. In Groopman’s retelling of his and his patient’s intertwined quest for cures and treatments, he exhibits the necessity of narrative medicine’s transgression into medicine for both physicians and patients.

Health can be defined in three different ways; negatively, positively and holistically as well as contextually, that will differ from person to person. The English word for health is derived from the old English word ‘hale’ meaning “Wholeness and wellness”, in this essay I will be exploring the different definitions, views and models of health.

In conclusion, Person introduces two conflicting opinions of the main message, medical ethics. However, there is a bias towards Jenna’s initial view, and the opinions of Lily and Alleys. Overall, the author uses this book as a way of showing us the ever-more relevant debate of medical ethics, but wants us to make our own decision of what view to

In this essay I will analyse the concepts of health, disability, illness and behaviour in relation to users of health and social care services. I will take a look into how perceptions of specific needs have changed of time. I will also include the impact of legislation, social policy society and culture on the ways that services are made available to individuals with specific needs. This will include me analysing the needs of individuals with specific needs, explain the current system for supporting individuals with specific needs. I will also evaluate the services available in a chosen locality for individuals with specific needs.

In today’s current medical models there is belief that people who behave strangely are labeled as “sick”. Another is that some people cannot control their outcome of having an illness. Because of this it is up to us to have a sort of responsibility towards and over them. The type of treatments that these people need are only supposed to

The conceptualisation of medicine as an institution of societal control was first theorised by Parsons (1951), and from this stemmed the notion of the deviant termed illness in which the “sick role” was a legitimised condition. The societal reaction and perspective was deemed a pillar of the emerging social construction of disease and conception of the formalised medical model of disease. Concerns surrounding medicalisation fundamentally stem from the fusion of social and medical concerns wherein the lines between the two are gradually blurred and the the social consequences of the proliferation of disease diagnosis that results from such ambiguities of the social medical model.

A definition, by way of contrast, of the key features of Marxism and functionalism will precede an application of each theory in turn to health.

As humans remain different in nature, so are their perceptions and response towards certain issues of their lives and well being. The concept of health assumes to be a typical example of this and hence, poses debate about what it is. “Health” is a word which means different things to different people (Ewles & Simnett, 2003). This essay intends to critically discuss the meaning of health by exploring different definitions and their contraindications.

This essay will focus on the biomedical and social model of health. It will be critically discussing both models using supporting theories and highlighting the limitations of each. This essay will also discuss and analyse how both models relate to lay perspectives on health and illness.