Inequality: A Sociological Analysis - Essay Example

Inequality: A Sociological Analysis This paper deals with social inequality and access to healthcare. Access to adequatehealth care by the members of the society is highly influenced by their income levels and social equalities. The poor people are unable to access effective health care services as compared to the rich. They cannot afford insurance coverage leading to inadequate healthcare. The data from the CTSIP (table 1) indicate that most low income earners earning between $15000 and $35000 annually have no health care coverage and thus accumulate the highest percentage of the population with no health insurance.

On the other hand, high earners indicate the lowest percentage of people with no insurance cover as shown by those who earn $ 85, 000 and above having 4% of those without medical cover. Analysis of table 2 indicates that the largest percentage of people who have no health cover attribute it to unaffordable premiums. In table 3, low income earners are characterized by poor health with a very small percentage (less 10%) of them getting excellent health care. On the other hand, the high earners have the highest percentage of excellent heath acre as they can afford it.

The data herein indicates that social inequality is the sole cause of differentiated levels of health care services between the low income earners and the high income earners. Functionalism theory is a perspective that is used to explain inequality traits in the society. This theory is based on the assumption that the society functions smoothly when every member has equal access to effective medical care. The doctor- patient relationship represents a hierarchical relationship in which the doctor is superior and makes the orders while the patient follows.

This theory can be applied in this analysis to explain the reason for the inequality in providing health care to the low income earners. Functionalism indicates that the patient has to play the ‘sick role’ while the doctor perform diagnosis and treatment of the patient. In this case, the role of the doctor depends upon payment of medical fees, problematic in accessing the medical fees leads to inaccessibility in medical care. Conflict theory is also applied in determining the quality of health care one gets.

This theory holds the assumption that low income earners are likely to fall sick more often and not get access to effective healthcare. According to this theory, doctors control health care by engaging in health care more to increase their incomes. As such, this theory can be applied to our analysis to deduce that low income earners lack adequate health care from the doctors and physicians since they have little to pay in return. On the other hand, the high income earners have much money to pay for health care fees and therefore, doctors will concentrate in giving them the best care so as to earn more.

From this analysis, it is evident that most low income earners receive poor health care due to their economic and social status. This means that more poor people will get sick without proper healthcare which results to imbalance in division of labour in the society. This is because the poor must exist in the society but they should not be left sick so that they can play their roles in the society. Work citedCockerham, W. C. Medical sociology (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 2009. Print.

Parsons, T. The social system. New York, NY: Free Press.1951. print.