Impacts of Power and Hierarchy in Medical Sociology- myassignmenthelp

Question: Write about theImpacts of Power and Hierarchy in Medical Sociology. Answer: Hierarchical arrangement in the society refers to how people are classified based on their wealth and power (Grusky Weishaar, 2014). One of the critical aspects of sociology is to study different kinds of social stratification and types of inequality. Inequity refers to a situation in which people have unequal access to resources in the society. The resources can either be economic and political, such as healthcare, education, jobs, housing (Bottomore Nisbet, 1978). The study of the sociology helps in understanding the changing social aspects within communities, the source of conflict and problems within the same settings, and finally the possible solutions to the challenges affecting the community. The sociological study is essential in the understanding interaction between different classes and why such stratifications exist. This essay focuses on the power and hierarchy in the healthcare sector (Australia) based on the sociological theories and concepts. Healthcare is one industry that people frequent throughout their lives. Every culture and group view health care differently based on the respective people's belief (Allen et al., 2016). Sociologist view health care from three perspectives: the functionalist, conflict and interactionist points of view. These three theories can be easily implemented in the healthcare sector. According to the In Allen et al. (2016), sociology is defined as the scientific study of sociological behaviors in human groups. Sociology is concerned with the relationships in human groups, how the interaction affects human behavior and generally, how society develops and evolve (Allen et al., 2016). These are the basis of development of functionalist, conflict and interactionist theories in healthcare. A sociological approach based on the functionalist perspective clarifies the way in which the society is stratified to preserve its ability (Cooke Philpin, 2008). A functionalist perspective maintains that being sick must be regulated so that not too many individuals are released from the societal role within the same period (Cooke Philpin, 2008). If at all situation like this occur, society will lose balance, interfering with its stability and functionality. Talcott Parsons, a renowned sociologist for its contribution to the functionalist theory, explained the behavior that sick people should demonstrate (Cooke Philpin, 2008). It is also regarded as the sick role. In everyday occurrences, when people are suffering, they request for permission either in their workplaces or school to go home or seek medical intervention. When people have a role to play in the real world, they are obliged to recover from their sickness and get back to work or school. If in any case, the sick person fails to take the responsibility of trying to get better, either by not following the medical advice or is reluctant to get better, then the person is perceived as not sick, and therefore, do not fall under the ill role (Cooke Philpin, 2008). According to the Parsons theory, physicians are the gatekeepers for the sick role, whereas the doctors are responsible for checking the ill role and confirm the illness, and afterward, help them get well. (Rothman et al., 2008) At the end of the day, it is really up to the patient to seek physician's assistance and follow the doctor's instructions in order to get better (Rothman et al., 2008). In conflict perspective, sociological approach shoulders that social behavior is best comprehended when there is a struggle over limited resources between human groups (Rothman et al., 2008). From this perspective, inequities exist in the healthcare industry regarding service delivery. Most often than not, wealthy people would get better health care compared to the less fortunate in the society. Also, people from poor backgrounds are likely to contract illnesses, compared to their wealthy counterparts due to the environmental factors. When they seek medical assistance, the kind of poor service they receive makes it even harder for them to recover quickly. In some cases, the poor do not have the finances to seek for treatment (Cooke Philpin, 2008). An interactionist perspectives in sociology is based on the daily forms of social relations to clarify society as a whole (Cooke Philpin, 2008). From this point of view, patients are active, regularly seeking the service of a healthcare professional. Interaction perspective also takes into consideration how doctors became who they are to be in the healthcare profession (Cooke Philpin, 2008). Doctors go to medical school to gain medical facts before being acknowledged as "Doctors." As such, they command respect from the patients. This makes it convenient for the patients to follow the instructions of the doctor. (Cooke Philpin, 2008). An essential perspective in healthcare is the biomedical model, sometimes called biomechanical model of health. The model is defined as a precise extent of health and defines a disease as the inability of the body to perform its function normally due to a biological breakdown. The model considers the patient as a body distinct from the mind and external consideration that can be handled and explored for treatment, according to the United States National Research Council (1997). The treatment, therefore, lies dominantly in the hands of the medical professionals and takes place in a medical set up. The biomedical model considers biological factors such as smoking, unhealthy diet and lack of exercises as absolute causes of ill health. The model insists that medical practitioners with proper training are the only proper personnel that can deal with sick people (Gaharian et al., 2017). Doctors have power in the biomechanical model and are in a position to maintain it that way. The primary advantage of the model is that it shows a clear guidance for treatment of the patient. Also, much scientific research support this model, most of which are unbiased and verified beyond reasonable doubt. Based on the interactionist perspective of sociological study, patients and doctors negotiate a diagnosis (Cooke Philpin, 2008). This may lead to a conflict (conflict perspective) between doctor's and patient's views regarding a proper diagnosis. From the functionalist point of view, the doctor is obligated to confirm the sickness; therefore, the doctors have social control, and this approach fit s well with the biomedical model (Gaharian et al., 2017). However, environmental and social changes also contribute to illness, which is not accounted for in the biomedical model. Social and ecological factors are important in pointing out the real source of diseases, hence, preventing re-occurrences of the same illness (Wade Halingan, 2004). The biomedical model is ineffective in a way that a patient may recover from the sickness through medical intervention, while the underlying problem still exists. For instance, treating cholera without improvement in sanitation and hygiene. Power and hierarchy are also left out in the biomedical model. According to the Marxism movement established by Karl Max Frederick Angels in 1880s, medicine operates in favor of the controlling groups in the society (Pelzang, 2011). Marxist believes that capitalist society profit is more valued than the people and healthcare they are given. The objective of the medicine is just to keep people fit enough to continue working for the capitalist (Pelzang, 2011). Also, the government does not address core social aspects and inadequate healthcare, and industries are allowed to continue making profits from the products that are harmful to the health of people, such as tobacco, alcohol, and cigarettes (Wade Halingan, 2004). Furthermore, unequal distribution of resources among the societal groups, place the wealthy individuals at upper hand of getting better health care. Although structural functionalism perceives social hierarchy as a practical feature of a multifaceted society in which a standard value regulates stability and social command, conflict theory reasons that scarce resources is the leading cause of competition. Social structures explain that people who have access to the scars resources will seek to keep the hierarchy, hence, conflict theorists predict that social occur due to revolution instead of evolution (Cockerham, 2014). Cockerham (2014) points out that conflict theory emphasizes the causes of illness in the economic setup and also on the competition about conflicting interest in the healthcare facilities. It is evident that conflict theory focuses its attention on the relationship between medicine and the social order. Conflict theory also brings out the disadvantaged position of women in the medical field regarding chauvinist treatment of women by physicians (Conrad et al., 2010). Another healthcare sector where privilege and po wer reside in the therapeutic division of labor and an imbalanced patient's outcome in marginalized groups in the society (Currie et al., 2012). Although analysis of racism, sex, and class in an individual analytic setup is perfect, the propensity to do away with all types of inequity and go back to the class-based understanding of power and hierarchy is better explained in the political economy approach (Weiss Lonnquist, 2015). A political economy perspective maintains that under capitalism, an individual relation to the means of production is not only crucial in understanding the position they occupy in the hierarchy, but also estimating their health and wealth (Weiss Lonnquist, 2015). The research establishes that etiology and spread of infectious and non-infectious diseases are directly related to the means of production. This social- class plotting of diseases occurrence, created the core of socio-economic stratification in understanding the living conditions of different societal groups, and the fact that treating the disease in itself cannot eradicate the re-occurrence of the illness. The purpose of the political economy approach is to help health professionals understand the illness as caused by also social factors and not to rely solely on the biomedical model for the complete eradication of the disease (Boyer Lutfey, 2010). The observation that a person's experience of illness and possibility of succumbing to death are directly related to the individual's position in the socio-economic hierarchy is the center of sociological inequities study. Marx anticipated a social class as a group of people who share similar conditions and situations, which might end up having an environmental effect on health. Familiarization with the group's interest enables class-consciousness, which can lead to a collective bargaining and therefore, action to upgrade group's attention (Weiss Lonnquist, 2015). Marxist classified people into workers and owners while pointing out historical changes that resulted from the industrial revolution (Weiss Lonnquist, 2015). This seems to be an out-of-date way to study health inequalities. A materialist approach insists on the ongoing interest in class-related health imbalances, but it has been upgraded a Weberian approach which sides with status rather than economic superiority should be used as a measure of social status (Boyer Lutfey, 2010). The primary guide to social classification is the one used in the Australia's national statistics office; National Statistics- Socioeconomic Classification' NS-SEC. According to NS-SEC, classification is determined by features of an individual's employment together with their place in the labor market (Boyer Lutfey, 2010). This guide tries to establish whether the job is skilled, casual or professional and the measure of power compared to other employees. This is regarded as an improvement of its anteceden t. Which mainly relied on the person's referral's ranking given to a specific profession about their general standing. (Weiss Lonnquist, 2015). Social capital is defined as a collective investment of persons in a society based on membership in groups, institutions, and networks, which serves as a measure of the degree of trust reciprocity in society (Gabe Monaghan, 2013). A high degree of income disparities among members of the societal groups reduces trust among the citizens, consequently degrading the social environment, and finally a person's health. A materialist approach emphasizes that a high degree of income inequity is directly related to poor health results due to minimal investment in infrastructures such as schools, hospitals, and housing that are important in sustaining the people's well-being (Gabe Monaghan, 2013). Over the past years, capitalism has modernized to an accident that the relevance of Marxist approach to the capitalism is jeopardized. Marxism movement approach is founded on the use-value, which should be modified to include the analysis of the production of services and products without favoring one party. In 1970, neo-conservative economic revolutions interfered with the initial groupings of the harmony, making it increasingly challenging to define people based on family, occupation, class or geographic origins (Alegria et al., 2011). In Australia, hierarchy, and power has influenced the enactment of tobacco smoking policy. The policy was put in place to regulate health complications such as liver cirrhosis that results from excess smoking. However, the implementation process has faced a lot of challenges, primarily from tobacco industries and its allies, who continue with the business at the expense of health complications the consumers are experiencing (Chapman Wakefield, 2001). This is fuelled by those in power, leaving the tobacco users at a great danger of health problems. Australian health practitioners are doing their best to treat these complications, but the fruit of their labor is not appreciated as the underlying problem (Tobacco distribution) remains unsolved. It is upon the government and the people holding a high position in the hierarchy to ensure that tobacco-free policy is fully executed in Australia (Studlar, 2005). This is a perfect example of the impact of power and stratification in medical s ociology and the limitation of biomedical model in addressing health issues. In conclusions, it is evident that hierarchy and power play a fundamental role in healthcare industry according to the sociological theories and concepts covered in this essay. The central part of this paper was seeking to understand the social processes that lead to inequalities in the healthcare industry and society in general. Despite significant changes in medical sociology since its introduction to the clinical field, many things remain unchanged regarding socio-economic configuration hierarchies, legislative and commercial medicinal functions. Medical sociology merit should have freedom of experiencing the excitement of scientific and technological innovation, without being limited by its constructive potential and keeping in check social justice implications. References Alegra, M., Pescosolido, B. A., Williams, S., Canino, G. (2011). Culture, race/ethnicity and disparities: Fleshing out the socio-cultural framework for health services disparities. In Handbook of the sociology of health, illness, and healing (pp. 363-382). Springer New York. Bottomore, T. B., Nisbet, R. A. (1978). A history of sociological analysis. New York: Basic Books. Boyer, C. A., Lutfey, K. E. (2010). 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