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The Social Construction of Health and Illness
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The Social Construction of Health
In this course, Professor Michael Calnan (University of Kent) explores the social construction of health. In the first lecture, we think about the social construction of health and illness, defining health, illness, disease and sickness. In the second lecture, we think about how stigma links to the social construction of health and five forms of stigma. Next, we think about the role of the medical profession and the medical professionals within it, in socially constructing societal views of health and illness. In the fourth and final lecture, we think about the pharmaceuticalisation of health and how this links to the medicalisation of health.
The Social Construction of Health and Illness
In this lecture, we think about the social construction of health and illness, focusing in particular on: (i) the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) definition of health as being a state of complete wellbeing, rather than simply the absence of disease; (ii) an extension to the WHO’s definition of health being to include health as an allowance to participate in society; (iii) some examples of laypersons’ definitions of health, which can vary based on a person’s circumstances and life course; (iv) Crawford’s links between capitalist production and health as discipline in life, as well as between capitalist consumption and health as the ability to live a good life; (v) differentiating between illness and disease, with illness being the manifested symptomology and disease being the biological cause; (vi) sickness being the social role associated with being ill, often connected with Talcott Parsons’ functionalist approach; (vii) Arthur W. Frank’s writing, which highlights the apparent and unapparent nature of different ailments in certain situations.
Hello. My name is Michael Callan. I'm a professor of medical
00:00:06sociology at the University of Kent.
00:00:10What I want to talk to you today about is, uh, the social construction
00:00:13of health and illness.
00:00:18Let's begin by an official definition from,
00:00:20uh, the World Health Organisation.
00:00:23They go much farther than they're kind of restricted by a medical,
00:00:27uh, concept of,
00:00:30uh, health.
00:00:33And they say health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being
00:00:34and not merely the absence of disease.
00:00:39So they adopt a broader conceptualization of health.
00:00:43More recently, they've adjusted that to say health is not just an end in itself,
00:00:47but it's a means to an end.
00:00:52It's a means to effectively
00:00:53participating in wider society.
00:00:56There are other different perspectives on health. And when you talk to,
00:01:01uh,
00:01:05the layperson, if you like the non expert,
00:01:06they formulate a whole range of different conceptualizations of health.
00:01:09Health is not being ill. Health is physical fitness, vitality.
00:01:14Health is social relations and psychosocial well-being
00:01:19and health is the ability to function in normal everyday roles.
00:01:23Uh, now,
00:01:29these actual conceptions of health vary according to your
00:01:29position in the life course and also according to gender
00:01:34socioeconomic
00:01:38circumstances in a range of other social positions.
00:01:40You see, for example, that, uh,
00:01:44older age may be more likely to be associated with a functional
00:01:46definition of health. Health is being able to perform everyday tasks,
00:01:52but also there's been a more kind of broader sociological work that has linked
00:01:58concepts of health with the social and economic order.
00:02:05For example, Robert Crawford in the 19 eighties linked, uh,
00:02:09capitalist production and consumption with conceptions of health.
00:02:14Health as control was associated with production
00:02:19and emphasis on individual discipline
00:02:23in their lifestyle.
00:02:27In contradiction,
00:02:29health as associated with consumption was health as a relief, living a full
00:02:30and good life. So there was these contradictory notions.
00:02:37Let's move on now to, um,
00:02:42illness,
00:02:46sickness and disease and what the distinction is?
00:02:48Well, on a simplistic level, um, illness is what a person takes to the doctor.
00:02:50Disease is what the,
00:02:58uh, patient tends to come home with. In terms of the Dia diagnostic label,
00:03:00Um,
00:03:06disease is what an organ has.
00:03:08Illness is what
00:03:11an individual
00:03:14fears.
00:03:16Illness is a subjective experience,
00:03:18and the way people manage it,
00:03:21whether they go to the doctor where they self medicate or use non orthodox care
00:03:23and sickness is the social role associated with,
00:03:29um,
00:03:35being ill
00:03:36being off work, not being able to perform everyday activities.
00:03:38Uh, associated typically with,
00:03:43uh, the, uh, function this approach of to
00:03:46persons
00:03:49there are other notions of, uh, disease and illness.
00:03:51And it's not a simplistic relationship.
00:03:55For example, if you can if you go for screening for cervical cancer or hypertension,
00:03:57uh, you may have a disease.
00:04:03Uh, but you may not have recognised it as an illness or
00:04:06experienced
00:04:10the onsets of signs and symptoms
00:04:12on the opposite end to that is that you may have illness without a disease.
00:04:15You might actually,
00:04:20uh, be
00:04:22labelled as a hypo.
00:04:24Uh uh, Experience hyper
00:04:27goria.
00:04:30You may actually experience a contested disease such as chronic fatigue syndrome,
00:04:31where there's some contestation about whether
00:04:36it's psychological or physical in origin.
00:04:40And there's also
00:04:44illnesses, particularly chronic illnesses.
00:04:46In terms of the symptoms manifest themselves at different points in time,
00:04:49and some people go into
00:04:54remission.
00:04:56For example, let me quote from Arthur Frank in 1995
00:04:57these people are all around but invisible.
00:05:03A man standing behind me in the airport security check
00:05:07announces that he has a pacemaker. Suddenly his invisible condition
00:05:11becomes an issue.
00:05:17Once past the metal detector, his mission state disappears into the background.
00:05:18
Cite this Lecture
APA style
Calnan, M. (2023, June 07). The Social Construction of Health - The Social Construction of Health and Illness [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://massolit.io/courses/the-social-construction-of-health
MLA style
Calnan, M. "The Social Construction of Health – The Social Construction of Health and Illness." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 07 Jun 2023, https://massolit.io/courses/the-social-construction-of-health