Sociology of Health as My Field of Interest Paper Example

Part 1: Description of Sociology of Health as My Field of Interest and Its Relationship with My Life Experience and Pediatrician Career

Health is a critical aspect of human well-being and a significant determinant of an individual's general quality of life. While it may be perceived that health is a preserve of medical and life sciences, it has an intricate relationship with sociology. I am interested and passionate about the sociology of health. Sociology of health is a relevant field which focuses on virtually all aspects of the contemporary life that impact an individual's wellbeing throughout the longevity period. It highlights and emphasizes the various aspects of the social environment beyond the individual as well as the role that an individual plays in determining personal health. These involve issues such as social processes, social conditions and categories, and the patient's perceptions and knowledge of health in particular.

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The sociology of health and illness currently addresses several pertinent issues including the general public perceptions of health and disease, globalization and its implications on health, social structures of formal and informal healthcare, the experiences of health and disease as well as the social and cultural aspects of the body. To best address, these various issues, sociology of health and disease employs an eclectic approach which involves a multidisciplinary approach. It draws from fields including psychology, social policy, epidemiology, and public health. The content of sociology is so diverse, but it employs well-established sociological perspectives in order tp attain the best explanations for various issues within the context of human health (White 75). Through this broad-based approach to health as a thematic area, sociology of health and illness significantly expands awareness and knowledge about the social influences in health. Furthermore, it provides a subtle, recognized and dynamic academic foundation from which to not only explore but also interpret and analyze various social aspects of health.

Sociology of health and illness fundamentally challenges the assumptions of conventional medicine and misinformation about how the body operates in response to diseases. It then draws a close analysis of how people's feelings about themselves and the diseases play a role in the proliferation or cure of the specific condition. It diverts the focus from medical procedures such as surgical operations, injections and drug prescription. It provides theoretical insights into primary social aspects of the body which impact the general wellbeing of an individual. These specific areas include assessment of how the environment affects health; influences of social, political and cultural forces on the body; the general structure and operations of the human body and how dominant perceptions about diseases influence a person's lived experiences (White 62). The underpinning of these areas of focus for the sociology of health and disease is the fact that when a patient arrives at a medical facility, they suffer from more than just the diseases whose symptoms may be presenting. Therefore, any interventions to restore their wellbeing must always be holistic in the sense that it should at least address the unseen pain alongside numbing the root cause of the disease. Furthermore, apart from the sick person, the condition has a critical effect on their close family members who often act as a source of social support. While conventional medicine focuses solely on the sick person, the sociology of health encompasses the effect of sickness on the other members of the family of people within the patient's social network with the aim of stabilizing them from the stress, depression, and agony that come with such illnesses (White 173).

The sociology of health and illness has particular importance to me since my cousin died of stage four cancer. Cancer is a chronic illness which means that it progresses from benign to severe and fatal stages. Addressing such a chronic disease requires one to understand the patient's perception of his health and wellbeing as well as proper coordination of familial support and self-help strategies that together with the administered medication may prolong life. Furthermore, I believe that if the cancer was diagnosed early enough, it would have been treated and my cousin would have lived a full life. Perhaps one of the misconceptions that increased my cousin's risk of death was that cancer affects majorly elderly people. It is at this point that sociology of health and illness that looks critically at patterns of disease infection and social aspects that predisposes people to cancer without age discrimination comes. That is why I intend to pursue a career in pediatrics to become a pediatrician and save the lives of many kids as well as address the ripple effects of an individual's illness on the other members of the family. For instance, the death of my cousin devastated my aunt's life hence she needed a mechanism to restore her wellbeing.

Part 2: Manifestation of the sociology of health and illness in "Mind, Self and Society; from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist."

The author of "Mind, Self and Society; from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist" take a divergent view from the allusion that individuals are conscious agents that can develop their behavior independent of external influences. The author strives to explain, demonstrate and explore the application behaviorism theory in daily human lives. They draw significantly from social psychology which looks at an individual as not being a loner but rather part of wider social order. Whereas the writers appreciate the fact that most social psychologists have inadvertently focused on people as being products of their consciousness and mental faculties, they frame individuals within the realms of society. The author delves into exploring the relationship that an individual has with the community and how the latter influences lived experiences, behavior, attributes, perceptions, thoughts, attitudes, social skills, and vulnerabilities. In essence, the social behaviorist theorists posit that people are instinctively or naturally inclined to belong to a particular social structure or social order which then takes a predominant role in shaping the nature of their lived experiences.

According to the behaviorist, the mind and conception of self-care achieved through social processes such as interactions with other social agents hitherto experiences. They try to delimit the extent to which a person can determine his general bodily constitution regarding behavior, mindset, and anything that makes the abstract "individual." For instance, they elucidate that behavior which is a critical consideration in the description of the self is psychologically dependent on the social experience. The theorists cast aspersions on the existence of private self-consciousness. They allude to the fact that even the expressed consciousness have their roots in underlying societal processes which reinforce each other to design the mind and body to behave in a particular way and not the other. In essence, the author tactfully subscribes to the notion that people are products of "nurture" and not 'nature."

The behaviorist theories make two main assumptions which are a source of bias in their propositions. First, they assume that people are born with emptiness, like a blank mind so that everything else that now happens in the society or environment is recorded from scratch. They deconstruct the existence of singularity of people at birth and underscore the idea that everybody is the same at birth but then the social norms, precepts, values, traditions progressively define the self. According to these theorists, the environment bears the most significant role in defining a person and perceptions such as gender roles, personality, and behavior and value system. Secondly, they assume that the acquisition of the behavior from the environment occurs through conditioning. In essence, people tend to attach particular value to specific experiences which then determines whether they embrace or reject them. An experience which is more likely to generate rewards is more likely to be adopted and reinforced through self-help processes or the society in such a way that it systematically becomes part and parcel of the person. The ones that generate harm results in negative reinforcement and is rejected or when taken up by the person nurtures in them adverse attributes. In this regard, the society which defines what is good or bad can take an active role in suppressing such behavior through punishments and imposition of sanctions.

The theorists explore the concept of inner-experience which falls within the context of individual psychology. They take the notion that while it may be tenable that people have some inborn sense of consciousness that contribute to their inner experiences, such a stance may only be speculative as such unexpressed aspects of the person may be abstract or speculative. Therefore, they note that even in the existence of such intricate elements of the individual which only experientially belong to him or her, it is practically impossible to isolate the person from his social order. Even the inner experience is heavily influenced by the existing social processes which prescribe what is expressed in the form of behavior patterns, attitudes, and values.

The author also illuminates the concept of social psychology and biological individual and their relationship to behaviorism. They posit that social psychology starts with looking at the observable activity within an ongoing social process. However, they castigate it for being mundane to the fact that there is always an inner experience of the individual which is the underlying phase of the process of behavior formulation. They explain that while social psychology has elements of intimate experience, it does not necessarily give it prominence but rather endeavors to determine how such inner experiences arise within the social process. Therefore, for social psychology, the act is more fundamental than the tract. In essence, the author shows that social psychology is behavioristic but assert that the inner experience always does not come to external observation.

The theorists draw their assertions from the work of other writers on the topic such as Thomas Watson and Darwin. For instance, the author provides that Watsonian concept of human psychology explains expressed behavior. Nonetheless, they argue that according to Watson, human beings exercise introspection to inform the expressed behavior. Nonetheless, they debunk the conclusions that the manifest behavior was a preserve of the individual actor thus was exclusive from societal influence. Instead, the behaviorists argue that there is nothing like personal behavior but somewhat unseen social forces and processes that collectively inform the construction of an individual.

Part 3: Reflection on the Reading and Its Relevance to My Field of Profession and Past Experiences

The book is of great relevance to my life as well as career aspirations as a pediatrician. First, the author demonstrates that individuals do not exist on their own but rather are part of and molded to what they are by existing social structures. This well resonates with my past in which I was nurtured in an overly Christian family in which nurtured in me the values of respect for human dignity and welfare. This is because religion emphasizes and reinforces positive behavior patterns. Also, had not decided consciously on which profession to pursue but then the death of my cousin from of stage four cancer prompted me to study sociology with a bias for the sociology of health. Through this field, I would be able to not only understand the social vul...