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How culture drives behavior
How culture drives behavior
Historical development of sociology
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Talcott parson is considering as one of the most influential American sociologist in nineteenth century. He was born in Colorado in December 13, 1902. Talcott earned his Ph.D. in economics and sociology from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He is the pioneer of laid down the modern factionalist perspective. Functionalism is such a framework that addresses society as a complex system where its constituent elements like traditions, norms, and customs work together as a whole. In a society these elements work together to promote unity and solidarity. In the 1940s and 1950s functionalism approach, arrive at the peak of its influence.
Talcott contributed to our understanding that how the certain values (traditions, institutions, norms and customs) help to promote stability in the society rather than in formation like economic system. For instance, he said successful socialization is strongly concerned with steady and supportive family. He prioritized the role of norms and values particularly while he talked about socialization process. From his perspective, actors are confronting with a variety of situational conditions, such as their own biological makeup and heredity as well as various external ecological constraints that influence the selection of goals and means. http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/talcott-parsons-theories-contributions-to-sociology.html#lesson Talcott parsons believed that social life characterized by a peaceful cooperation. He believed that only a commitment to common values provides a basis for order in society. Value consensus forms the fundamental integrating principle in society. From shared values, derive common goals. Norms is a specific expression of values. The Importance parsons pla...
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...ept John C. Burnham http://hhs.sagepub.com/content/27/1/70.refs.html Body & Society Talcott Parsons, the Sick Role and Chronic Illness, Matthias Zick Varul, Body & Society 2010 16: 72 http://bod.sagepub.com/content/16/2/72.refs.html Conclusion: In this 21st century, medical sociologist from Britain who emphasized theory more than in the USA found the sick role concept of parsons's is still interesting and useful. After reading criticisms of parsons's sick role theory that are some more valid from the others I still think it is important to know his work for understanding not only the past sociological approach of medical practices but also for the vast field of future health care arena.
Parsons revisited: from the sick role to…..?Simon J. Williams University of Warwick, UK, health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine
Hutchinson, Tom “Illness and the hero’s journey: still ourselves and more”, CMAJ. 162.11 (2000):p.1597 web (date accessed).
The Open University (2010) K101 An introduction to health and social care, Unit 2, ‘Illness, Health and Care’, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
The functionalist paradigm focuses on the integration of society, and how society how its own groups which has their own functions to help improve the peoples lives. Functionalist paradigm fits in the category of macro-sociology, because it focuses on the patterns that shape an entire society. Functionalists believe that society is maintained through the thought of trust and consensus on moral values for ideal behavior. Working together will result in a stable social environment that will create equality. Conflicts or dysfunctions will be view as a disease in the social system. Social conflict paradigm believes that society is divided into many groups that have their own goals, and that certain parts of the world have the luck of benefiting economic dominan...
During 1951 Parson was the first to debate about the sick role. According to Parson, there are the few expectations which need to be met before considering individual sick. Firstly, individual should not cause their own health problem an example could be by eating a high-fat food which leads to overweight and linked to type 2 diabetes. An individual receives a less sympathy. Secondly, individual who is sick must adamant to get well otherwise will see as faking the illness. Thirdly, an individual illness should be confirmed by a physician so they can follow the instruction. The relationship between the physician and the patient is hierarchical where the instruction is provided by the physician and followed by the
Weiss, G. L., & Lonnquist, L. E. (2011). The sociology of health, healing, and illness (7 ed.). Boston: Prentice Hall.
Society teaches us as individuals how to behave, interact, and even think. There are several components to creating norms in society. Some of these are called values, norms, sanctions, folkways, mores, and taboos (Henslin, 49-55). Each of these is a crucial part to creating what we live and
The notion of health is contextual and an interactive, dynamic process between person and environment (Schim et al, 2007). Both wellness and illness are conceptualized by the ‘person’, existing on a continuum across the lifespan (Arnold & Boggs, 2001).
Peter Conrad’s book, The Medicalization of Society: On the Transformation of Human Conditions into Treatable Disorders, examined several cases of human conditions, once viewed as normal, now considered as medical issues. Conrad defined this transition of human problems to disorders that are medically defined, studied, diagnosed and treated as “medicalization”. Specifically, Conrad discussed certain conditions, such as adult ADHD, as age related phenomena that have been medicalized. Throughout, Conrad demonstrated how these issues became medically defined because of the current research and financing structure of medicine in the United States. Those newly defined illnesses changed people’s perceptions and expectations of health and old age, thus dramatically altering society’s expectations of medicine and subsequent life quality. Conrad’s ethnography is a good example of the ethnomedical approach to medical anthropology that addressed several health conditions that are prominent in the United States. He culminated his book by arguing medicalization primarily serves as a form of social control, solving problems with individuals and not society. While the book clearly explained a wide range of negative causes and effects of medicalization, Conrad only acknowledged a few examples of successful resistance briefly in his last chapter. In order to empower its readers beyond education, the book should have examined these instances of anti-medicalization to find similarities and derive productive countermeasures for individuals to follow. Conrad thoroughly outlined the history, examples and influencing factors that promote medicalization, but failed to offer any combative solution to the resulting problems of medicalization.
People in modern Britain acts in a certain way that is seen as appropriate for ill people. In the 1950s, Parsons (1951) outlined the norms that govern illness behaviour and professional responses to it, in modern society. He also saw the patient - doctor relationship as a social system, governed by norms about appropriate behaviour. Also, Parsons (1951) claimed illness as disruptive, a kind of deviance and is therefore potentially disruptive to the social order. Parsons saw society as a functioning whole, and was concerned with how the social order was maintained, and how various institutions in society in the case health care institution function... ...
The belief that the mind and body were separate, and that all diseases and disorders could be explained by science, founded this conceptual model (Sarafino, 2008). Ergo, this approach saw health care professionals focusing predominately on the physical processes and looked at biochemistry, pathology and other related fields to explain, diagnose and treat illness or disease (Wade, 2004). As a consequence, medical intervention was the primary method used to return the health of an individual to a pre-illness state ‘free from pain, disease or defect’ (Williams, 2016, p.1). However, this model did not take into account any of the external considerations that lead up to the development of certain health conditions. Nor did it consider that a person’s mind could play a role in becoming ill or getting well (Sarafino, 2008). (DOES THIS EXPLAIN IN BETTER
Parson’s sick role generalizes today’s modern-day view of the sick role. It is the role given to those who experience illness beyond the physical condition of a sick state- it constitutes a social role because behaviors are shaped by institutional expectations and reinforced by the norms of society. It's based on the assumption that being sick is not deliberate or a choice of that person. According to Parsons, the sick role requires an ill person to fulfil a series of obligations to gain many rights. They are obliged to: Seek medical advice, cooperate with medical experts and therapists throughout their illness, want to get well as quickly as possible (Cockerham, 2016). In return for fulfilling these obligations they are exempt from social responsibilities and self-care, which are taken upon by family and friends. These rights, however, are granted only when a recognized medical authority, such as a doctor, acknowledges the person’s illness. Some illnesses do not justify people claiming all the rights of the sick role. For example, minor ailments may be self-treated and should not require time off work. In such circumstances, an inappropriate adoption of the sick role puts a strain on this social contract and may be met with a lack of sympathy from family and careers. This reaction can also occur when people who are genuinely sick fail to follow prescribed medical advice (Parsons,
7. Mullen, Paul E. “Violently Ill.” AQ: Australian Quarterly, vol. 70, no. 2, 1998, pp. 30–32. JSTOR, JSTOR,
Talcott Parson and Robert Merton are the central tenets of structural-functionalist. According to Calhoun “Functionalism (sometime called “structural –functionalism’) refers to the body of theory first developed in the 1930s and 1940s that treats society as a set of interdependent system. Theory rest on an organic analogy that likens a social system to a physical body, in which each subsystem is necessary to maintain the proper functioning of the entire organism. From a functionalist point of view, the key to understanding a social subsystem is thus to trace its function in the working of the whole.”(calhoun489) Structural functional theory describes society to be a complex system with various interdependent parts that work together to maintain stability. Each part of society has each of which have their own functions and work hand in hand to maintain social stability in the world.
In the analysis of society in today's times, the motives of social change, control, and conformity provides the basis of how society controls human behavior. The ideals and expectations place onto people in modern society are established through means of control where people are expected to behave within a spectrum of normality and what society deems as acceptable behavior. Forms of social influence as simple as peer pressure and wanting to fit in transform into major controls of society like laws, law enforcement officers and the government as a whole. The way that people make sense of their environment is through formed first impressions, interpretations of other people's behavior and how that behavior affects their attitudes, stereotypes, and perceptions of other types of people. The overall impact of these ideas on individuals shows how conformity, persuasion, stereotypes, and culture affect how society maintains and changes social norms.
Norms are by definition general society guidelines and expectations of appropriate behavioral conduct in a particular environment or society. These guidelines could be formal and written such as laws that prohibit stealing or they could be implicit such as behavioral conduct or dress code. Every society has its own way of endorsing and enforcing certain norms and standards of proper behavior while renouncing and sanctioning improper behavior. In general, norms are of a significant importance because they guide our behavior and maintain order in society by providing conformity. Furthermore, norms render behavior predictable rather than random, thus allowing us to predict and understand other people’s actions and behaviors in different situations. On the other hand, divergence from norms is termed “deviance” and can lead to chaos and instability. It is noteworthy to mention, that the culture background and context play an important role as each culture processes its own norms, values, standards and expectations. For instance, in certain cultures shaking hands between opposite sexes is inappropriate, and this is the case in Yemen. Thus our perception of norms in different culture is critical: either we choose to understand an individual’s behavior according to his own culture context and set of norms (cultural relativity) or we choose to understand an individual’s behavior according to our own culture which we believe to be more superior (ethnocentrism). An example of ethnocentrism where norms and values of a certain culture have been imposed on another is the banning of the veil worn by muslim women in France. In contrast, cultural relativism appears in Lebanon where muslim women are perceived in terms of their own culture and are a...