The Variables of Social Class and Ethnicity - Essay Example

Explain and analyze the variables of social gender and ethni with references to sociological explanations. Introduction Health According to the WHO (1946), health is a “state of complete social, physical and mental well-being and not just the absence of infirmity or disease”. However, this definition is too general as it assumes the word “complete” which is not always the case, the definition does not also take into account the relative nature of health, as in “a health relationship”. The Sociological Conceptions of Health and Illness Sociology is a research-based study of whose main concern is understanding the human societies. According to the functionalist school of thought, emphasizes on the involvement of society when it comes to health. Talcott Parsons, the idealist behind this defines health as a social phenomena rather and not just as a physical phenomena. Health therefore is the state of optimum capacity of an individual for the effective performance of the roles and tasks for which he/she has been socialized. (Parsons, 1951) The Marxist school of thought defines health from a production perspective. Production leads to the existence of different social classes. According to Marx, these forces of production are the basis for political, educational, legal, and health inequalities. Health outcomes in a population are influenced by the capitalist economic system. Analysis on wellness and category has revealed an obvious connection between patterns of loss of lifestyle rate and morbidity (illness) and your public category. In England, the Black Report – a major nationwide research (DHSS 1980) – was important in publicizing the level of class-based wellness inequalities. Many people discovered the outcomes surprising. Although there was discovered to be a trend towards better wellness in community as a whole, essential variations were seen to be available between various sessions, affecting health from beginning bodyweight to blood stress to risks of serious sickness. While not discounting the possible validity of other justifications, the Black Report pressured the need for a comprehensive anti-poverty technique and for improvements in knowledge in order to combat wellness inequalities The sociology of health and illness/ wellness entails the examination of the interaction between health and the society. The sociology of health and illness discusses the relationship between factors in the society that affect morbidity and mortality and vice versa (Timmermans, Stefan & Steven Haas, 2008: 659-676). Social Inequalities in Health The most common sociological inequalities in health include social class, ethnicity/ race and gender. Class and Health The Black Report –named after Chairman Sir Douglas Black, President of the Royal College of Physicians – showed that the inequalities in health continued to widen ever since the National Health Service (NHS) was established in 1948. Many people discovered the outcomes surprising. Although there was discovered to be a trend towards better wellness in community as a whole, essential variations were seen to be available between various sessions, affecting health from beginning bodyweight to blood stress to chance of serious sickness. The Black Report showed that inequalities in health were caused by more than just the mishaps of the NHS, rather, factors like diet, education, housing, employment, income and conditions of work. It recommended certain policy adjustments as a strategy to combat the inequalities however, the report and its recommendations were disowned by the government giving very few people the opportunity to read it. This report would have greatly changed the health awareness of many individuals and would be a stepping stone to the improvement of health and health quality. Individuals from higher socio-economic positions are on regular better, taller and more powerful, and stay more time than those lower down the public range. Differences are biggest in regards to baby mortality (children passing away in the first season of life) and the loss of wellness in children, but lesser people are at greater chance of passing away at all age groups than more affluent people. Some of the primary class-based inequalities in wellness described in Giddens, A. (p 272: 2006) include: Inexperienced manual employees in the lowest occupational category are twice likely to die before pension age than professional white-collar employees in the top occupational category. Twice as many infants are stillborn or die within the first weeks’ time of lifestyle in unskilled families than in expert family members. A person born into the highest occupational category (professional white-collar workers) is likely to stay on average seven decades more time than someone created into the smallest occupational class (unskilled guide workers). Some 90 % of the essential causes of death are more typical in the two lowest work-related sessions than the three higher work-related classes. Working-class individuals check out their doctors more often and for a broader variety of ailments than individuals in expert occupations; long-standing sickness is 50 per cent greater among inexperienced manual workers than among experts. Class-based wellness inequalities are even more noticeable among the long-term unemployed; individuals in perform usually live longer than those who are jobless. Richer people are more able to fight of diseases even those that might be hereditary since they have the resources, the proximity to the health facilities and even better. Their resources do not restrict them to treatment alone, but also cater for prevention. An article on the BBC by Fergus Walsh describes the background of Angelina Jolie, an American Hollywood actor. The 37-year old underwent a double mastectomy to reduce her chances of getting breast cancer. This is especially so because her mother had recently died of cancer after struggling for ten years. Jolie and her family are well off, and of a higher social class (Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22520720/). According to Jolie, her doctors had stated that she had a high chance of getting breast cancer (87%) or ovarian cancer (50%).This proves that people of a higher social class have better chances of treatment and prevention as their resources do not limit their health. Meanwhile, people from third world countries may not even realize they have cancer up until it is too late. This variance causes the inequality of health between rich, medium- class and poor people. The patterns in wellness inequalities between classes are seen as caused by material deprivation. Decreasing inequalities in health can only be done by dealing with the root causes of public inequalities in general. While not discounting the possible validity of other justifications, the Black Report pressured the need for a comprehensive anti-poverty technique and for improvements in knowledge in order to combat wellness inequalities. Gender Research has revealed that in industrialised countries, women live longer than men but appear to experience more illness. While men have higher loss of life rate from the most common single causes of loss of life (ischemic cardiovascular illness and lung cancer), lesser men than women suffer from somatic problems such as headache, tiredness, muscular discomfort. However, questions raised by researchers about the validity of research show that higher rates of sickness in women, as many different wellness outcome variables have been used and not all show sex variations. There is more consistency in research that examines minor psychological sickness, stress, sickness absence from work, functional limitation, and depression (Bartley, M., 2004). In the UK, mortality rate in men is more than in women at all age groups. In youngsters and beginning maturity, men are more likely to die from automobile injuries, other damage (such as flame and flame, random sinking and submersion), and destruction, causing higher loss of life rate prices among younger men and younger boys. Adult life analysis shows that, loss of life rate is higher for men than women for all the major causes of loss of life including cancers and cardiac arrest. However, women have higher rates of disability than men, especially at older age groups. Ladies have more morbidity from poor mental wellness, particularly those related to stress and depressive symptoms (Acheson, D., 1998). According to the BBC news on health, an article by Helen Briggs gives a clue as to why women live longer than men. Briggs cites that Japanese scientists have proven that the immune systems of men age faster than those of their female counterparts. The study was conducted using a sample of 356 healthy men and women adults. In both sexes, white blood cells aged at the same rate as age increased. However, closer examination of the immune system reveals that the T-cell and B-cell lymphocytes declined faster in men than in women as the age increased. Two cytokines in men also appeared to age faster in men than in women therefore, the conclusion was that it is possible that the faster ageing of the immune system of men could be the reason for a faster rate of intrinsic ageing. In the UK, life expectancy for women is 82 while that of men is 79. (Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22528388/) WHO (2008) suggests that sex variations in wellness are a result of both (1) biology and (2) public aspects (distinct roles and behaviours of a male and female a given culture, dictated by that cultures sex norms and values). Social aspects used to explain higher loss of life rate prices in men (Scambler, 2008): Employment: Most occupations taken up by men are typically dangerous (such as risky machinery, weather, environmental hazards, and exposure to toxic chemicals). High-risk behaviour: Men are more likely to participate in risky sports like motorbike racing, climbing etc. Men are at higher chance of traffic damage and tend to drive more and faster when under the influence of liquor compared to women. Smoking: Recently, men had much higher cigarette smoking prices than women. However, the sex gap between men and women in cigarette smoking has narrowed in recent years and area ( Read More