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Principles, purposes of Critical discourse analysis
Importance of critical thinking in healthcare
Principles, purposes of Critical discourse analysis
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Australia’s health care system is hierarchical, instilled with the relations of power, and characterized by a fundamentally unequal relationship between the intellectual ‘core’ and its periphery. That is, the dominance of medicine over other health professions and patients. This social paradigm has been loosely termed ‘the medicalisation critique’ and has been a central issue concerning sociologist. Hence, the essay will examine the notions of medicalisation, utilizing the Marxist and Foucauldian perspective which provides social and political insights into hegemonic tendencies inherent in Australian health care and how this impacts nursing. The essay will commence by outlining key concepts relevant to a sociological analysis of health and …show more content…
Health sociology explores the social constructions of health and illness, utilizing the sociological imagination to understand the “intimate realities of ourselves in connection with larger social realities” (Mills 1959, p. 15). Allowing us to conceptualises the social organisation of the physical environment, and understand disease as a process of interaction between humans and the environments. This is vital for health practitioner as health inventions that are effective and preventative need to go beyond medical treatment and address the social factors of health (Germov, 2013). The different approaches of analysing health are the sociological perspective, they share the core assumptions and principles on the social context of health. Van Krieken suggests the range of perspectives reflect the subjective nature of our experience of the social world (2000). Thus, attempts at understanding and explaining the complex, diverse social world must in turn be multi-faceted (Clarke, …show more content…
Social hierarchy is defined as a rank order of individuals or groups with respect to a valued social dimension, acquired by virtue of membership in a socially constructed group such as culture, social class, organization, department, or profession (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). These social arrangements establish power and status inequalities, and expectations of domination or subjugation (Rosenblatt, 2012). In general, power is regarded as a form of repression or oppression, which is in alignment to a Marxist perspective. Foucault rejects this, beleiveing instead “power is coextensive with resistance; productive, producing positive effects: ubiquitous, being found in every kind of relation” (1972-1977, pg. 98). Therefore, the individuals become not the objects of power, but a “locus where the power and the resistance to it are exerted” (as cited in Goudarzi & Ramin, 2014, pg. 2036). He argues us not to assume “a binary structure with 'dominators' on one side and 'dominated' on the other, but rather a multiform production of relations of domination” (Foucault, 1972-1977, pg. 142). The concept of power and hierarchy, has been employed by medical sociologists as a means of understanding the relationships between the biomedical perspective and dominant stakeholders within Western healthcare
Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard Medical School graduate and writer for The New Yorker, phenomenally illustrates the unknown side of healthcare professions in his book, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science. By exploring the ethical and analytical aspects of medicine while entertaining readers with relatable anecdotes, Gawande impresses on his audience the importance of recognizing the wonders of the healthcare field, as well as the fallibility of those within it.
Using a pseudo-scientific, case-study approach, “The Visible Spectrum” correlates the ideologies of a hospital to that of society. Vollmann’s sociological critique describes the hospital as a microcosm of the society in which it is located; although theoretically structured, efficient and beneficial to its patrons, in practice, however, the institution (and likewise, society) veils its omnipotence in the illusion of an individual’s agency and self-determination, while acting...
Overtime, sociology has played an essential role in the aid of healthcare policies and procedures, along with playing a fundamental role in one’s understanding of health inequalities. This paper explores how sociology has played such a role in healthcare, whilst including discussions regarding the influence of social structures and inequalities in the health of an individual, their family and community, with the topic of health variations between social classes being the main focus of the discussion. A structured overview, review and evaluation of a specific health policy in the UK will also be provided within this paper. Sociology in healthcare. Sociology can be defined in a number of ways, due to its almost limitless scope (Denny, Earle,
“Health is the state of complete physical, mental, social and intellectual well-beings not merely an absence of disease”(WHO,1998).Good health is essential in life as people’s career will be affected if they fall ill.. In the developed countries like Australia, People who are not involved in the healthy lifestyle are suffering from a range of health disorders like overweight, high blood pressure, obese, heart diseases, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, kidney problems, liver disorders and so many. To overcome these health issues Australian government introduced health care system. This essay will firstly, discuss the Australian health care system and secondly, compare Australia with other countries around the world in relation to different consideration on health.
(Flynn 1996, 28) One important aspect of his analysis that distinguishes him from the predecessors is about power. According to Foucault, power is not one-centered, and one-sided which refers to a top to bottom imposition caused by political hierarchy. On the contrary, power is diffusive, which is assumed to be operate in micro-physics, should not be taken as a pejorative sense; contrarily it is a positive one as ‘every exercise of power is accompanied by or gives rise to resistance opens a space for possibility and freedom in any content’. (Flynn 1996, 35) Moreover, Foucault does not describe the power relation as one between the oppressor or the oppressed, rather he says that these power relations are interchangeable in different discourses. These power relations are infinite; therefore we cannot claim that there is an absolute oppressor or an absolute oppressed in these power relations.
Conrad, Peter. The Medicalization of Society: On the Transformation of Human Conditions into Treatable Disorders. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.
Within a society power serves a vital role of establishing and maintaining roles of dominance and submission (Bourdieu, 1977). This creates and maintains a social hierarchy of inequality that unconsciously determines the status, behavioural expectations and available resources for members of the community (Navarro, 2006). The meaning of power within a society is that it determines one’s social standing or relational position within the given community as well as the level of dominance or power they have available to exert onto others. Power, within a society is primarily created through the habitus, capital and culture of a
A country’s health care system refers to all the institutions, programs, personnel, procedures, and the resources that are used to meet the health needs of its population. Health care systems vary from one country to another, depending on government policies and the health needs of the population. Besides, health care programs are flexible in the sense that they are tailored to meet health needs as they arise. Among the stakeholders in the formulation of a country’s health care system are governments, religious groups, non-governmental organizations, charity organizations, trade/labor unions, and interested individuals (Duckett, 2008). These entities formulate, implement, evaluate, and reform health services according to the needs of the sections of the population they target.
The biomedical model of health has been criticised because it fails to include the psychological and social causes relating to an individual’s medical illness or health, looking only at the biological causes (Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Therefore, sociologists being aware of the impacts of social structure and lifestyle on health have put in various efforts to place the study of ‘the social’ at the core of health and healthcare examination.
Foucault argues that because authority stems from relationships, one must work and try to gain dominance over others regardless of the social class he resides in so as to gain power. He asserts, ."..power...is produced from one moment to the next...in every relation from one point to another" (93). Therefore, groups such as the welfare departments, caseworkers, and even merchants can hold power over the lower class based solely on the ability to dominate the relationship between themselves and welfare recipients. Both welfare departments and caseworkers allocate money to the low-income citizens in need of money and, as a result have the ability to sustain dominance. Merchants also exploit these consumers by using "hard sells, high prices, poor merchandise and...very high rates of interest" (Kornbluh 82). Furthermore, "Power is everywhere; not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere" (Foucault, 93). Thus, society...
Health as a Social Construction In my essay, I aim to find out why social construction affects the health of our society. Ill health may be defined as 'a bodily or mental state that is deemed undesirable'. This means that health is the condition of the body both physically and mentally. Social construction of health refers to the way health varies from one society to another.
In conclusion, this critique has critically examined the view that medicine is a form of social control. Discussing the views of theorists such as Talcott Parsons, Ivan Illich, Narvarro, Irving Zola and Foucault. These theorists have views about how dominating medicine can be in society, the power of the professionals and medicalisation how it refers social problems into medical problems. Throughout this critique, it has been made clear that medicine is a form of social control.
Third, institutions consist of a new type of power, so that all individual relations constitute a power relationship. (Foucault, “Truth and Juridical Forms” 82-83) A relationship of power may be described as a mode of action that acts upon an individual’s actions through which the behavior of an active subject is able to inscribe itself. (Foucault, “The Subject and Power” 342) Institutions work through an authority network of individuals, and power is employed and exercised by individuals through a netlike organization. “Not only do individuals circulate between its threads; they are always in the position of simultaneously undergoing and exercising this power.
Sociology of Health and Illness The sociological approaches focus on identifying the two sociological theories. We critically analysed the biomedical model and doctor-patient relationship. We also evaluated how the medical professionals exercise social control and the medical professional’s contribution to ill health. The difference between society and health is studied by sociologists in relation to health and illness.
“Social control is a perception that relates to the ways in which people’s thoughts, feelings, appearance, and behaviour are regulated in social systems”. (Crossman, 2014) “It is the enforcement of conformity by society upon its members, either by law or by social pressure”. (Werner, 2011) The social construction of illness is a major research perspective in medical sociology and explains how illnesses have consequences separate from any biological factors.