Sociological Perspectives

Sociological perspectives for health and illness

Patterns and trends
We measure health so that we are aware of what illness are the most common in a certain area for example Walsall. By measuring health and illness we are able to find out what types of people are affected by a particular illness and the social group that it affects are categorised into. There are many ways of measuring health and illness for example it is usually measure in different social groups for example age, gender, ethnicity and location. Health and illness can also be measured in surveys, for example in local areas you might be asked to complete a survey or questionnaires in a hospital about your current health condition. Hospitals, clinic and doctors surgeries also

The report set out four possible mechanisms to explain widening socio economic health inequalities. It also found that the main cause of these inequalities was economic inequality. However the report stated that overall health of the population had improved since the welfare state had been introduced. Population information came from the decennial census while death and cause of death information came from death certificates. An individual may be described differently in the ways data sources leading numerator- denominator bias. The report noted that widening inequalities may be explained by the shrinking of social class v. with few people who are completely unskilled, the average health of social class v moved further from social class i. the report suggested that the social class meaning has been changed over the time as some jobs disappear and others emerge. Social selection is when health determines social position. Healthy people are more likely to get promoted whilst the unhealthy people are more likely to lose their jon this may be due to them missing days. Behaviour in individuals in the lower classes indulge in comparatively more health damaging. This report states that poverty causes poor health. The idea of the relationship between class and health is artificial rather than real. The report showed in detail the extent of which ill health and death are unequally distributed among the population of Britain.it also suggests that these inequalities have been widening rather than diminishing since the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948. The report concluded that these inequalities were not mainly attribute to failings in the NHS but they were social inequalities which are influenced by the income, education, housing, diet, employment, and conditions of