Unit 7 – Sociological Perspectives for Health and Social Care

P1 – Explain the Principal Sociological Perspectives

 

An Introduction to Sociological Perspectives

Sociology is the study of society and the different social structures within it. ‘Social structures’ refers to the different parts that make up society. Sociologists look at patterns in various social relationships and develop theories that will help explain it and in many cases determine social change. There are many sociological groups that all have their individual perspectives and theories on sociological issues which is explained further below.

Functionalism

The functionalist approach looks at how society completes systems and parts within the systems are not understandable in isolation from each other’s. Functionalists related society to the human body: the heart, lungs and brain work together so the body can function properly, in the same way family, education and the law work together to improve society.

The human body consists of dependant organs and systems whereas society consists of dependant social institutions.

In more detail:

The government, or state, provides education for the children of the family, which in turn pays taxes on which the state depends to keep itself running. The family is dependent upon the school to help children grow up to have good jobs so that they can raise and support their own families. In the process, the children become law-abiding, taxpaying citizens, who in turn support the state.

Every social institution has a main function to help improve society and link with other social institutions to work effectively to improve society.  Functionalists described society as a ‘social system’ to show their idea of a dependent network of various social institutions.

Criticisms of Functionalism

It ignores conflict and competition in society and paints a positive image of goals and values of a socialisation process that will not fail. Functionalist generally ignores the fact that humans are completely unpredictable. They do not recognise that there is a difference between class, region and ethnic groups. Functionalists simply reflect on middle class families.

Marxism

Marxism is regarded as a conflict perspective as the approach looks at the inequalities and exploitation of wealth which are established by a capitalist economic system and how it affects individuals and society. This sociological theory was developed by Karl Marx who had a view that there are two social classes in society:

1. The capitalists – a small group who had factories and different places of employment.
2. The proletariat– this is a poor group of workers who were employed by the capitalists

Marx claimed that the proletariat are being exploited by the bourgeoisie. The proletariats live in false class consciousness according to the Marxist. Marxist believe that we live in a capitalist society, where the entire purpose is to gain capital for the bourgeoisie. The only power the proletariats possess is their labor power i.e. their ability to work. 90% of wealth is owned by the ruling class, therefore the majority of people are being exploited.

Marx stated that where there are two different social class, ‘rich and poor’, there will always be conflict, this explains why the Marxism theory was called the conflict model. But Marx believed that the only way to resolve this conflict is by revolution.

Criticisms of Marxism

Marxists had the same belief functionalists had that a human’s behaviour is the key result in the socialisation process which didn’t have the individual’s choice. Marxism is criticised for focusing too much on social-class inequality, whereas the social class conditions have improved dramatically over the years. While Marxist suggest that the only way to resolve the problems in capitalism is through a revolution and replacing the unfair system with a communist one, evidence suggests that even in a communist society there will always be inequality in the distribution of power.

Feminism

Feminism is the theory that examines women’s social roles, experience, interests, chores, and feminist politics in a variety of fields. The Feminist theory is strongly influenced by Marxist ideas. While Marx focused on the economic inequality between different groups within society, Feminists concentrate primarily on ‘gender inequality’. There are different groups of feminist e.g. Marxist, radical and liberal feminist. Feminists believed that women were discriminated against because of their gender.

Radical Feminist

Radical feminists concentrate on the patriarchal structure of society. The term ‘patriarchal society’ refers to society being controlled by men for the interest of men. Many radical feminists say that patriarchal structures influence social institutions. Radical feminists say that family is the main reason for patriarchal structure in society and other social institutions. Radical feminists then went on to believe that the patriarchy was spread throughout the relationship between both women and men on two different levels. According to radical feminist women need to be aware of the extent to which they are being exploited for example sexually, financially and emotionally by men and challenge the society. They believe that men are responsible for most of the problems in the world and women can do a far better job, therefore they are fighting to achieve a matriarchal society.

Feminists: Andrea Dwokin, Catherine Mckinon, Susan Brownmiller and Valerie Solonas have focused on domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape. They are not simply campaigning to overcome the patriarchal society, but also to empower women.

Marxist Feminist

Marxist feminist focuses on the exploitation of women, especially women in the working class social status. Marxist feminist looks at how women’s injustice, treatment or control is a product to the economic position of women. The theory stated that women have a more subordinate position than men in terms of class relationships. Women were semi-proletarianised workers which means that the labour was forced. They are critical of women maintaining the household, cooking, cleaning, washing and performing other domestic duties without pay.

Liberal Feminist

Liberal feminist are also concerned about the exploitation of women but they are more interested in fighting for greater equality of opportunity for women. Some of the equality rights of opportunity that women have now that they did not have in the past:

• Having the same job opportunities as men
• Government roles
• Equal pay to men
• Entitled to education and they’re ability to make choices on what they want to study
• Freedom of speech

Criticisms of Feminism

Too much of the Feminism theory is focused on gender inequality, while it ignores other forms of inequality in society. Feminism also ignores the differences of inequality amongst women, some woman have more power than others. Many people argue that the feminist movement has already achieved its goals. Men and women are now equal, having careers in professional sectors such as police officers, lawyers, or enter in any other ‘male dominated’ professions.

Interactionism

Interactionism was also known as the social action approach and was compared to other structured perspectives in terms of not focusing on big institutions and how they link and function with one another. The Interactionism approach looked at individual’s behaviour and the way society is shaped under the influence of small groups. Interactionist’s will look at various groups from gangs to patients in hospital wards.

This approach believed that individuals were being influenced by the socialisation process. This was because individuals were able to choose their own roles and choose how they’ll behave. Theorists weren’t interested about the social structure, but on how individual’s behaviours were caused by the way the individual looks at a situation, e.g. they would be more concerned about comprehending how the interaction between teenagers may lead to rioting, rather than the role riots play in society. Also theorists saw individual’s behaviour due to their self-esteem and the way others perceive us.

Criticisms of Interactionism

The Interactionism approach only focuses on concepts of social life and doesn’t look at society as a social system. Interactionist’s research was mainly micro-scale and the end result in the research didn’t always apply to society. The perspective described individual’s behaviour by the influence of gangs and social relationships e.g. Doctor and service user. Interactionism does not look at bigger social factors that could influence an individual’s behaviour. Many social theorists tend to base their idea on interactions between small groups than bigger issues.

Collectivists

The Collectivist approach focuses on the progress of the group, rather than just on individual progress. looks at how the government has the main responsibility to provide health care services to society. The main priority for the collectivism is to provide support and meet the needs of service users, e.g. children and old people received support from the government.

This perspective was shown by the post second world war by the labour government who formed the ‘welfare state’ in order to help fight social problems in Britain’s society. Due to the ideas of the collectivists this lead to the government forming the National Health Service and primary and secondary schools.

Criticisms on Collectivists

The ideas of the collectivist approach results in state dependency, it prevents individual’s from looking after themselves and their own affairs as they begin to rely on the state to provide them for their needs.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a theory that moves beyond modernism. The term literally means after modernism. Post modernists argue that the ideas and the modern era, such as structures and seeking scientific explanations to events no longer applies. Postmodernist argue that in a postmodern society, the ideas of social class, capitalism and large scale social structures and seeking scientific explanations to events are no longer valid. Postmodernist argue that in a postmodern society, the ideas of social class, capitalism and large scale social structures is no longer valid. As different attributes are now being used as an indicator to social class, e.g. what and where we eat, the car we drive, the friends we have and our social pursuits.

Within a post-modern society, the rules, norms and values are not clear as these vary from one location to the next and from one group of people to the next. The level of respect for teachers has decreased. Postmodernist society are filled with uncertainty and the quest for identity. People are more concerned about where they fit into society and how they can help to bring about a condition that is suited to their individual needs. Postmodern societies are becoming more individualistic and materialistic, this in itself can and does create tensions with society.

Criticisms on Postmodern

The postmodern society grows in the arts, media and culture, rapid social changes which is why their ideas are not always clear.

New Right

The New Right approach goes against the collectivists ideas as their policy is tough on crime, strong on individualism. The New Right theory study claims that some groups in society are forming an ‘underclass’ social class. They believe that individuals should fend for themselves. They believe that the role of education should strive you to be in competition with others, opposed to unconventional values improving social justice. Promoting social equality through equal opportunity campaigns against the gap of rich and poor. The New Right approach encourages the population to be independent and to recognise our individualities.

Criticisms of New Right

The New Right tends to blame victims for the things that are not of their own making. Many of the problems identified come from low wages, lack of employment opportunities, cultural changes etc.

P2 – Sociological Approaches to Health and Ill-Health

In this assignment, I will be explaining the various concepts of health. I will also be explaining the different sociological approaches to health and ill health. Some sociological perspectives I will be looking at are.

• Marxism
• Functionalism
• Feminist
• Interactionist

Definitions of health

Health is a dynamic condition resulting from a body’s constant adjustment and adaptation in response to stresses and changes in the environment for maintaining an inner equilibrium called homeostasis. Health can mean different things to different people and is influenced by our age, gender, culture and social class. There is no specific definition of health that is used universally. Health is important as health is wanted and has consequences for promoting health.

Health is defined in the following categories:

• World Health Organisation (WHO)
• Positive
• Negative

World Health Organisation:

The World Health Organisation definition of health is ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. This has changed over time because health includes the condition of the best physical, mental and social wellbeing. It has to deal with the wellness of an individual which involves working to become fit and reach to the best of their ability of their physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual health. As you may see that the definition of health has changed dramatically over a period of time.

Positive definition:

The positive definition of health is described as the achievement and maintenance of physical fitness and mental stability. This relates it to individual’s physical and emotional well-beings.

Negative definition:

The negative definition oh health is described as the absence of physical illness, disease and mental distress.

Sociologists have categorised human disorders as:

• Disease
• Illness
• Disability

Disease

A disease is a particular abnormal condition, a disorder of a structure or function, that affects part or all of an organism. The causal study of disease is called pathology. Disease is often construed as a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. Disease’s have similar symptoms that are used worldwide to diagnose a disease whatever the individuals circumstances are.

Illness

This is a state of poor health in your body and mind. An illness is a specific condition that prevents your body or mind from working normally : a sickness or disease. The definition of illness can vary and is a subjective term, many say that feeling is associated with a lack of health e.g. pain or discomfort.

Disability

Disability is a broad term that includes: impairments, limitations, and restrictions on an individual’s body or ability to participate in what is considered “normal” in their everyday society. The disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental, or some combination of these. A disability may be present from birth, or occur during a person’s lifetime.

Marxist approach to health and ill-health

Marxist believe that the definition of health and ill health is determined by the bourgeoisie. Marxist also believe that doctors only serve the interest of the bourgeoisie as doctors are gatekeepers, they work together with the ruling class. They leave the decision of whether you are healthy or unhealthy to work. Health care professionals make sure that individuals go back to work as quick as possible.

• Tobacco companies: make huge cancer and other health conditions by selling cigarettes.
• Alcohol: Alcohol could cause someone to become an alcoholic and other health conditions.
• Chemical and oil companies: destroying forests and causes air and water pollution.

The government does not spend enough money to tackle ill-health e.g. poverty, unemployment and poor housing. Marxist’s theory says that health and ill-health has to be viewed as a social class problem that is linked to inequality – if people had a good standard of living, there would be no ill-health. The population from the upper class have a longer life expectancy and they enjoy better levels of health.

Functionalist approach to health and ill-health

Functionalist regard health as a very important aspect of society. If everyone is ill, society can’t function, which will result in anarchy and the state will collapse. According to Functionalist, those who are sick are going against the norms of society. They view those who are ill as having an important social role to play, i.e. those who are ill have to play the ‘sick role’, meaning the ill have to do everything necessary to get better health in a short space of time, e.g. going to the doctors, staying at home, taking medication.

The rights linked to this approach was that you had to be free from a social act e.g. go to work or college or paying tax, another right is to be cared for. Parsons saw this as a main function of a family who cared for sick and other family members who relied on the family group. The responsibilities linked to this approach involved the individual to take reasonable steps to improve to look to continue their normal role in society as fast as possible. Also liaising with other health care professional’s especially doctors, nurses etc.

Interactionist’s approach to health and ill-health

The interactionist approach to health and ill-health focuses on what happens in individual’s life. It is a very anxious approach meaning that it worries about individual’s physical wellbeing and focuses on the issues of health and illness. They are anxious about why some individuals who have serious illness’ do not consider themselves as ill e.g . someone who has cancer may decide to run a marathon to raise money for cancer research, whereas another cancer patient may prefer to be hospitalised.

Interactionist are concerned about the effect of labelling someone as ill as this could affect an individual’s self-esteem, self-image as well as their family and social life.  When looking at sociology, Interactionist’s don’t focus on structures and institutions, but focuses on complicated relationships with other individuals e.g. their family, friends and their connections with professional services. Interactionist’s think that these social relationships have as much influence as a medical diagnosis to decide whether an individual state themselves as being ill.

Interactionist believe professionals and patients should negotiate whether they should be signed off from work e.g. the government is trying to get disabled people back to work. The benefits system renegotiated giving money to those deemed long-term disabled or ill and unfit to work.

The Feminist approach to health and ill-health

Feminist have based their approach on how males are dominating the medical profession and the adverse impact this has had on women such as pregnancy and childbirth being regarded as a medical issue, sometimes even as an illness rather than a natural process.

Feminists believe that the exploitation of women by a patriarchal society, have contributed to the fact that more women suffer from depression, anxiety and stress more than men. All these problems are treated as medical issues rather than as a result of natural causes.

Postmodernist approach to health and ill-health

Health and illness is a growing concern in postmodern societies. Individuals need to think of new ways of accessing healthcare provisions and perhaps even explore non-traditional options such as alternative medicine. The uncertainty of life in postmodernist society can lead to growing health problems. Postmodernist believe that people should challenge conventional views on health and Ill health e.g. “do diets actually work?” They also believe that people should challenge conventional views, e.g. “is chocolate bad for health?”, “should women drink when pregnant?”

As there is so much information on health and Ill health people tend to get confused such as “pregnant women should drink red wine”. Postmodernists are concerned with the ‘deconstruction’ of meanings. In other words, they challenge (or deconstruct) the claims made by certain theories. To apply this to health and social care profession, they would challenge the claims made by health and social care professionals.

Conclusion

Overall, I have seen the different explanations each sociological explanation has which defines health and ill health and has looked at the different concepts of health.

References

• Btec National Health and Social Care Book 1

M1 – Assess the Biomedical and Socio-Medical Models of Health

There are many models throughout the world but the models that play the largest roles in the UK, USA, France and a greater part of Western Europe are the biomedical and social-medical models of health.

Biomedical Model

The Biomedical model is the most common way for Health Care professionals to identify the nature of a medical condition in many western countries. The Biomedical model defines health as being free from pain, disease or defect. The model looks at the physical processes that influence individuals for example physiology and pathology of a condition; this does not go under the social or psychological influences that may have an active role in influencing illness. According to the biomedical model, every illness has a cause and once the Health Care professionals remove the cause this means the individual can become healthy again.

Strengths of Biomedical model

The biomedical model shows to be successful for diagnosis and treatment for various diseases. The model is based on scientific knowledge and research; it focuses on the cures for illnesses and diseases. The biomedical model also states that health can be restored by various techniques e.g. surgery, drugs or treatment. The model emphasises facts and testing on biomedicine and that ill health can be found by diagnosis putting into consideration signs and symptoms.

Weaknesses of Biomedical model

It fails to include psychosocial factors that are shown to be the main influences of disease and illness. Individuals play little to no part in the intervention to restore their body back to health, the model does not take into consideration the interpretation of the individual’s health. When trying to restore health back, the biomedical model treats both the body, mind differently, and thinks that finding a cure is more important than finding prevention.

The biomedical model failed to address illness and disease, which does not show any physical signs and symptoms. It also fails to look at the harmful effects that prompt the individual through the effects of treatment by a physician or surgeon. In addition, the use of medical technology and the health system to diagnose and treat conditions is costly for governments. Paying for medications and treatment via the biomedical approach can be expensive for individuals also.

Socio-medical model

This model of health focuses on social factors that contribute to individual’s health and well-being and especially looks at the impact of poverty, poor housing, diet and pollution and in order for individuals to prevent themselves from ill health they need to improve housing and programmes to tackle poverty and inequality. The socio-medical model challenges assumptions made about the medical model, and focuses and emphasises the need to look at wider considerations.

There are five key principles to the social model of health:

1. Addresses the broader determinants of health
2. Acts to reduce social inequalities
3. Empowers individuals and communities
4. Acts to enable access to healthcare
5. Involves intersectional collaboration

Strengths of socio-medical model

The socio-medical model encourages people to live healthy lifestyles. The model looks at the causes of illness and diseases, and tries to improve the factors that cause illness and prevent this from occurring again. It is widely used by many medical professionals.

Weaknesses of socio-medical mode

It fails to look at the biological causes of disease and illness and can take a long period to look for factors affecting the illness and prevention to stop it reoccurring to improve environmental factors. The socio- medical model doesn’t have a clear method to identify or arrange health problems and it is unable to explain illnesses where there are no signs and symptoms to make a diagnosis. Changing an individual’s environment and lifestyle choices will consist of different things depending on what the person was used to previously, many people take longer to adjust to change whereas others may find it easy to adjust to change, therefore may take a long time and not have a quick response on an individual’s health.

P3 – Explain Patterns and Trends in Health and Illness among Different Social Groups

In this assignment, I will be explaining how patterns and trends in health and illness may vary in different social groupings.

Mortality rate

The number of deaths that occur in a population compared with the total number of people in that place or group.

Infant mortality rate

The number of deaths during the first year of a baby’s life per thousand  live births.

Morbidity rate

Morbidity rate is the frequency with which a disease appears in a population. Morbidity rates help insurers predict the likelihood that an insured will of contract or develop any number of specified diseases.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy is the average period that a person may expect to live.

Main social groups:

• Social –economic status
• Gender
• Age
• Geographic location
• Ethnicity
• Risky Behaviours

Locality

Inequality between social groups is increasing in the UK. This is evident especially in Glasgow, where the life expectancy drops up to 7 years from just a couple of streets away. This is due to poor housing conditions and the difference in social class. If an individual in the working class sector gets an illness or disease, they will receive poorer care than a middle class individual who can afford to go private as they are on a low income, they will not have the money to go private therefore the working class individual will not receive quality care.

Those in lower paid, unskilled jobs have a greater risk of accidents at work and can suffer from stress linked to unemployment. Professionals enjoy healthier lifestyles, because not only do they have a better standard of living, they are more likely to be aware of health issues than unskilled workers as they have access to the internet, etc.

The black report agrees with the sociological model of health that environmental factors play a part in health and illness e.g. poor housing conditions, diet and pollution.

The most used study that focuses on these differences is the Black Report by Townsend et al 1980, soon after was followed by the Acheson Report 1998, both reports gave detailed explanations about the relationships between social and environmental influences and health, illness and life expectancy.

The Black Report has been the most influential and the explanations that were given are still used by many sociologists when focusing on these issues. Gender, age and ethnicity are the main factors that influence the Black Report:

Socio-economic status refers to an individual’s position in the social structure. Socio-economic status’ are made up of different facts e.g. an individual’s occupation, education, income and wealth. Sometimes sociologists use socio-economic status to determine an individual’s behaviour. A huge amount of research was done which showed that health, ill health and life expectancy can be different depending on the social group, especially on the social class, e.g. individuals from a higher social class are likely to have a higher life expectancy and experience better health than individuals who are in the working class social group.

Ethnicity

Studies show that there is a link between race and ethnic backgrounds and illnesses and it is difficult to describe an individual’s racial type as many come from more than one ethnic background. An increasing amount of ethnic groups e.g. black African or Caribbean or Asian backgrounds have a lack of good health due to poverty this is more common amongst minority ethnic groups who live in deprived areas e.g. poor housing conditions, pollution and an increasing amount of unemployment.

Individuals that are from Africa, Caribbean or Asian backgrounds are more likely to have long-term illnesses e.g. diabetes, coronary heart disease or high cholesterol levels than those that are not from ethnic minority groups. Minority ethnic groups are more likely to have a shorter life expectancy or a higher infant mortality rate due to health problems because of increasing levels of poverty and being unable to have access to health care services.

Age

As you get older, you are more likely to develop illnesses and experience depression/ anxiety, grief or loss, which is the main reason why older people have chronic health problems or life-threatening disease. This does not show that ill health is a result of ageing e.g. old people feeling more sick and fragile. There is an increasing level of illness and disease within the elderly, especially those who are 75 and over.

In a three-month period of 2003, 24% of the elderly, over 75 were admitted to casualty or the outpatient’s department of a hospital, whereas 14% compared to people from various ages. Death rates among 15-19 years old has risen, making adolescents mortality and morbidity rates a trend in national priority areas e.g. mental health issues, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and male suicide.

Risk Behaviours

An individual’s lifestyle choice can put them at higher risk of developing health related illnesses as they take part in high-risk activities e.g. smoking or drinking. This is the main reason why there is a difference between female and male mortality rates, the death rate between young men aged 17-24 are higher than young women as males in this age group tend to take part in more risky behavioural activities than females.

Gender

Women live longer than men and have a higher life expectancy as women are more aware of health issues and more likely to consult doctors than men. As a result, women appear to have higher sickness rates than men. This reflects the fact that the ill health of men is unreported.

Overall, men’s mortality rates from cancer are some 30–50% higher than a women’s, with much of this difference driven by more lung cancer among men. For men, lung, stomach, and liver cancers are the major killers. For women, breast and lung cancers are the deadliest over- all, cervical cancers are major killers for women in developing countries. Effects of gender e.g. the fact that smoking has traditionally been a male activity has led to alarmingly high lung cancer mortality among men. Female lung cancer deaths are on the rise; however, as cigarette advertisers have successfully linked smoking to women’s status and emancipation. In some developed countries, male lung cancer deaths are on the decline, while women’s are still rising. Cervical cancer, on the other hand, remains the deadliest cancer for women in the developing world which also suggest that depending on your ethnicity the chances of getting cancer is more likely to get cancer.

M2 – Use different Sociological Perspectives to discuss Patterns and Trends of Health and Illness in two different Social Groups

People are born into the social class there parents are in, therefore are more likely to stay in that class. The Marxist approach agrees with this statement. Ill health and life expectancy vary depending on where an individual lives. However, Marx beleive that ill-health is caused by inequality in society. They believe that all groups suffer apart from the ruling class, whether their age, gender etc. Individuals from the higher classes tend to live longer lives and enjoy better health than individuals who are working class. This could suggest that if you are from the working class social group, your health will be comprised by things such as lifestyle choices, e.g. affording healthy foods.

The difference between social classes is not just income but also health. Individuals in the working class social group tend to have unskilled manual, below living wage jobs. This results in the working class having to eat from fast food restaurants often as they may not be able to afford healthy foods. This may lead to many health illness’ such as diabetes, obesity, etc. It would be highly unlikely to access private care, the working class will have to go to a public hospital funded by the NHS which means they will not have as great an oppurtunity of fast and greater care than those who can fund private care (the middle class). The New Right would argue that individuals are to blame for their own health as they believe that individuals should stop relying on the government. The Interactionist approach supports the New Right. They claim there is a problem in society which is the fault of the individuals, nothing to do with society.

Health inequality is often portrayed as a result of people’s lifestyle choices. If people on a lower income exercised more and smoked/ drank a bit less, they could also enjoy the benefits of a longer and healthier life. However, a 25 year life expectancy gap cannot simply be explained by a dedicated diet of alcohol, cigarettes and chips. This makes it hard to tell whether social class could be the cause of bad health or a person’s lifestyle.

Ethnic minority groups, live in areas of deprivation in inner areas with associated poor housing pollutions and relatively high unemployment. This would therefore make it difficult to know whether ill-health is due to poverty or ethnicity. Compared to white minority there is evidence from annual population survey, office for national statics, shows that unemployment is higher for black and other ethnic groups than white British and Irish.

Feminist approach blames inequality on the patriarchal nature of society. They believe that all groups suffer but women suffer the most ; all woman suffer but not as much as working class women. Since the feminist campaign, women have a higher life expectancy.

D1 – Evaluate different Sociological explanations for Patterns and Trends of Health and Illness in two different Social Groups

In this section, I will continue from P3 and M2 to come to a conclusion and evaluate both of my chosen sociological explanation and look at the strengths and weakness’ of the social perspectives on the patterns and trends of health and ill-health.

The Marxist approach focus too much on social class inequalities that they forget about other factor issues such as age and gender. Social class is not such a major issue in health and ill-health as it is not only the working class who experience ill-health, individuals from the middle class experience ill-health too.

The New Right believe that individuals should stop blaming the government and blame themselves for their ill-health, however this theory totally ignores the fact that some individuals can not look after themselves. The upper class will always have an advantage to get a higher level of health care, and the lower class will recieve a lower level of health care. Private healthcare can be expensive for some people to afford. Individuals need a certain level of basic support in order to help themselves.

Conclusion

Sociology does not have any right or wrong answers. Instead, there are different perspectives about society through theories and views. This open view promotes debate, discourse and sometimes even controversy.