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Sociological Perspectives for Health and Social Care (UNIT 7)
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https://eminesperanza.blogspot.com/2017/11/sociological-perspectives-for-health.html
Assess the biomedical and socio-medical models of health (M1)
In this part of my assignment I am going to be assessing the biomedical and
socio-medical models of health on Martin and Angela. Biomedical is based on
health in relation to medicine and science whilst socio-medical is based on
health in relation to social welfare and medicine.
Biomedical model of health
The biomedical model of health has dominated Western Industrialised
societies since the industrial revolution of the mid-nineteenth century. This
view underpins the policies and practice of the National Health Service (NHS).
The proponents of the model regard health as being largely the absence of
disease and see the intervention of health professionals as necessary in
times of illness. The main purpose of the health services is to cure disease
and health professionals will use scientifcally tested methods to address
diagnosed illnesses. Sociologists believe that the focus on the individual
patient for whom a cure should be found is a limitation of this model, there is
little regard paid to environmental and social factors that may lead to ill
health. The causes of illness may be many and varied and the focus of the
biomedical approach may lead to a focus on the individual. Environmental
factors that might cause disease are largely ignored.
The biomedical model fts well with the functionalist perspective which was
discussed earlier in the chapter where illness is regarded as in itself
dysfunctional for society. If people are ill they can’t make their normal
contribution to the smooth running of society. For the functionalist, if people
adopt the sick role and are exempt from their usual social responsibilities,
they do not have a responsibility to co-operate with the health professionals
and to take all reasonable steps to get better.
Socio-medical model of health
The socio-medical model of health focus on the social factors that contribute
to health and well-being in our society. Research indicates that life
expectancy rose and death rates began to fall, especially infant mortality
rates, with the improvements in sanitation and the provision of clean water,
the building of new council houses and generally improved standards of living
in the late-nineteenth/early-twentieth centuries. This was long before 1946
and the introduction of universal free personal healthcare through the NHS. It
is evidence of this sort that supports a view that a signifcant source of
disease and ill health lies in the environmental and social conditions of
society and it is not solely located in the individual.
The socio-medical model sits more easily with the confict theorists than the
functionalists. The confict theorist would explain the shorter life expectancy
and the relatively higher rate of ill health among the poor as a consequence
of the inequalities in society and the life circumstances of the disadvantaged.
The poor are more likely to have inadequate diets, live in damp houses, often
in inner city areas where the impact of unemployment and environmental
pollution is arguably highest. The ruling groups in society, the politicians and
the owners of industries are not willing to make changes that would be
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