Learning Objectives

Sociologists focus on the social factors that influence population rates and trends. The meanings of health, sickness, and disease are also shaped by social definitions of behavior. This chapter considers sociological perspectives on various elements of population, the current problems of overpopulation, health and illness, the distribution of diseases in a society, and the evolution of the health care system as a social institution.

After studying this chapter you should be able to understand the following:

1

Thomas Robert Malthus suggested that the world's population was growing more rapidly than the available food supply and that this gap would increase over time. However, Karl Marx saw capitalism, rather than rising world population, as the cause of social ills.

2

The primary mechanism for obtaining population information in the United States and most other countries is the census.

3

Roughly two-thirds of the world's nations have yet to pass fully through the second stage of demographic transition, and thus they continue to experience significant population growth.

4

The developing nations face the prospect of continued population growth, since a substantial portion of their population is approaching the childbearing years. Some of the developed nations, however, have begun to stabilize population growth.

5

According to Talcott Parsons's functionalist perspective, physicians function as "gatekeepers" for the sick role, either verifying a person's condition as "ill" or designating the person as "recovered."

6

Conflict theorists use the term medicalization of society to refer to medicine's growing role as a major institution of social control.

7

Labeling theorists suggest that the designation of a person as "healthy" or "ill" generally involves social definition by others. These definitions affect how others see us and how we view ourselves.

8

Contemporary social epidemiology is concerned not only with epidemics but also with nonepidemic diseases, injuries, drug addiction and alcoholism, suicide, and mental illness.

9

Studies have consistently shown that people in the lower classes have higher rates of mortality and disability.

10

Racial and ethnic minorities have higher rates of morbidity and mortality than do Whites. Women tend to be in poorer health than men but live longer. Older people are especially vulnerable to mental health problems, like Alzheimer's disease.

11

The preeminent role of physicians within the health care system of the United States has given them a position of dominance in their dealings with nurses and patients.

12

Many people seek alternative health care techniques, such as holistic medicine and self-help groups.

13

In the developed world, an aging population and technological breakthroughs have made health care both more extensive and more costly. At the same time, developing nations struggle to provide primary care for a burgeoning population. Throughout the world, an important issue is who is to pay for this care.

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