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The sociology of health and illness, sociology of health and wellness, or health sociology examines the interaction between society and health. As a field of study it is interested in all aspects of life, including contemporary as well as historical influences, that impact and alter health and wellbeing.[1][2]
It establishes that, from birth to death, social processes interweave and influence health and wellbeing. These influences may include location of upbringing, how illness is understood and framed by immediate community members, or the impact that technology has on health. As such, it outlines that both health and the medical science that engages it are social constructs; that the way of knowing illness, wellbeing, and interactions with them are socially interpreted.[3][4]
Health sociology uses this insight to critique long-established ideas around the human body as a mechanical entity alongside disrupting the idea that the mind and body can be treated as distinct spaces. This biomedical model is viewed as not holistically placing humans within the wider social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental contexts that play a large part in how health and wellbeing are deprived, maintained, or improved. Alternative models include the biopsychosocial model[5][6] which aims to incorporate these elements alongside the psychological aspect of the mind.
This field of research acts as a broad school overlapping with areas like the sociology of medicine, sociology of the body, sociology of disease[7] to wider sociologies like that of the family or education as they contribute insights from their distinct focuses on the life-course of health and wellness.[8]
- ^ Nettleton, Sarah (2013). The sociology of health and illness (3 ed.). Cambridge, UK: Polity. ISBN 978-0-7456-4600-8. OCLC 819519790.
- ^ White, Kevin (2002). An introduction to the sociology of health and illness. SAGE Publishing. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-0-7619-6400-1.
- ^ Conrad, Peter; Barker, Kristin K. (2010). "The Social Construction of Illness: Key Insights and Policy Implications". Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 51 (1_suppl): S67–S79. doi:10.1177/0022146510383495. ISSN 0022-1465. PMID 20943584. S2CID 30019119.
- ^ Conrad, Peter (2008). The Sociology of Health and Illness Critical Perspectives. Macmillan Publishers. pp. 1–55. ISBN 978-1-4292-0558-0.
- ^ Engel, George L. (1977-04-08). "The Need for a New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine". Science. 196 (4286): 129–136. Bibcode:1977Sci...196..129E. doi:10.1126/science.847460. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 847460.
- ^ Rostosky, Sharon Scales; Travis, Cheryl Brown (1996). "Menopause Research and The Dominance of the Biomedical Model 1984-1994". Psychology of Women Quarterly. 20 (2): 285–312. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1996.tb00471.x. ISSN 0361-6843. S2CID 145365509.
- ^ Timmermans, Stefan; Haas, Steven (2008). "Towards a sociology of disease". Sociology of Health & Illness. 30 (5): 659–676. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9566.2008.01097.x. PMID 18564975.
- ^ Annandale, Ellen (2014). The sociology of health and medicine : a critical introduction (2 ed.). Cambridge, UK. ISBN 978-0-7456-3461-6. OCLC 885445027.
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