The Social Construction of Health and Illness

About the lecture

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.

About the lecturer

Professor Michael Calnan is a professor of medical sociology in the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent. Professor Calnan’s research interests are in trust relations in mental health care and social influences on decision making made by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Some of Professor Calnan’s recent publications include ‘How do you measure trust in social institutions and health professionals? A systematic review of the literature (2012-2021).’ (2023) and ‘Pharmaceutical policies for gaining access to high-priced medicines: a comparative analysis between England and Brazil.’ (2022).