Reading: Fundamental to sociology is the belief that society holds a much greater degree of influence in people’s lives than is commonly recognized. The first full-length sociological study (by Emile Durkheim) was a demonstration that suicide rates depended on the cultural characteristics of the societies in which victims lived. Sociology allows us to see the social in the ostensibly private and un-social.
We think of health as a fundamentally biological matter – one having to do with the body, not society. But as it turns out, society heavily influences what happens to the body. Various cultural and structural factors – such as political values on the one hand, and economic inequality (in tandem with other forms of inequality) on the other – bear upon people’s quality of life and their ability to access medical institutions. This lesson examines the sociology of health and the dimensions of health as a social problem.
Please watch the following video:
NowThis World. (2017, October 3). Which Countries Have The Best Healthcare? | NowThis World [Video]. YouTube.
Prompt: You have now learned a lot about the social institutions of labor, economy, education, and health care, and the social problems related to these institutions. Considering what you have learned, in what ways might capitalism be a better economic system than socialism? On the other hand, in what ways might socialism be a better economic system than capitalism?
