Preview

Functionalism In Health Care

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
949 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Functionalism In Health Care
Alyssa Bursott
Dr. Stephanie Spars
SOC 100 - Introduction to Sociology
March 8, 2016
Health and Medicine Society experiences health and wellness in many different perspectives. Sociologically speaking, there are two major theoretical aspects to healthcare. Functionalism demonstrates illness as an inhibitor on society’s functions. Conflict theory describes issues within the healthcare system, rather than focusing on individual illness affecting society. All in all, both approaches share the same ideology on the source of overall health. These two perspectives illustrate a sociological root for issues within health and medicine. Functionalism explains health and medicine by looking at how each individual who is ill affects the flow and function …show more content…
As global stratification has resulted in different levels of industrious nations, healthcare has been impacted as well. Wealthy nations that are industrialized are capable of creating an excellent healthcare system that provides for themselves, whereas the least industrialized nations “have neither the trained surgeons nor the money to buy the technology (Henslin 549).” Also, capitalism tends to support the wealthier individuals because they “are the ones who make decisions about how the health care system will be run (OpenStax 2016).” The poor do not have the power or the money to use the commodity of capitalistic healthcare. This is not the only aspect of the conflict perspective on healthcare. Monopolizing U.S. health care has become a way of controlling who can be doctors, and how doctors will be paid. The American Medical Association, or AMA, gained a monopoly that allowed them to pass laws to prohibit certain individuals from attaining a medical license. “A sort of priesthood of medicine (Henslin 552)” developed, creating an elite group who have complete control over the medical field. Only these members have the power to diagnose and treat ill individuals. These two ideas collide to create conflict within society. If only a select group of individuals are allowed to practice medicine, and the poor are unable to afford to support these specialized individuals, then the health care for the less fortunate will be minimal, if not nonexistent. Conflict theorists emphasize that this conflict, rather than the individual, causes a social problem within
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Riverpoint Writer Reimbursement and Pay for Performance Paper
    • 1525 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Riverpoint Writer Reimbursement and Pay for Performance Paper

    Epstein, A. M. (2004). Health Care in America Still Too Separate, Not Yet Equal. New England Journal of Medicine, 351(6), 603-605.…

    • 1525 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Unirt 7: Sociological perspectives for health and social: P2
    • 1437 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Unirt 7: Sociological perspectives for health and social: P2

    The Functionalist approach to health and ill health is that if you are ill it must be managed so hardly anyone is released from their responsibilities in society all at once. Functionalists contend that an excessively large definition of illness would disturb the workings of society. Basically, someone is only really ill if they can’t do some of their daily activities because of their illness. They see ill health as being a bad thing for society.…

    • 1437 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Functionalism: The Major Sociological Perspective
    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Functionalism: The Major Sociological Perspective

    The major theoretical perspective are known as Functionalist perspective, Conflict perspective, and Interactionist perspective. These three views are the ones most widely used by sociologists, which altogether will approach and provide an introductory look at the discipline. Some iconic sociologists such as Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Karl Marx, W.E.B. DuBois and many others are major contributors to sociology. Functionalist perspective emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. The functionalist perspective sees stability and agreement while the conflict sociologist sees the world as a continual struggle. Conflict perspective assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of tension between groups over power or the allocation of resources, including housing, money, access to services, and political representation.…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    David Ignatius Opinion: A Radical Idea For Health Care Reform
    • 205 Words
    • 1 Page

    David Ignatius Opinion: A Radical Idea For Health Care Reform

    In his "Opinion | A Radical Idea for Health-care Reform: Listen to the Doctors,” David Ignatius critiques that the “political doctors’” failure to improve the US’s ever deteriorating health care system and prompts for the people to move towards not just treating diseases but rather preventing them. Ignatius offers both his personal insight as well as professional interpretation regarding the whims of society by providing evidence that contrasts the US’s ever growing health care expenses with the “[decline of] life expectancy in the United States for the first time in nearly 20 years” (2017). At first, the author identifies the wound that is crippling the health care system: the improper funding of medical funds to treat patients; however, as…

    • 205 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Unit 8 Sociological Perspectives In Health And Social Care
    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Unit 8 Sociological Perspectives In Health And Social Care

    The Functionalist approach to health and ill-health originates from Talcott Parsons. He says in order for society to work efficiently all the members of society need to be healthy. He sees illness as a form of deviance as the ill members are playing the sick role, if people claimed they were sick they had specific rights and new responsibilities, these included not participating in social obligations like going to school, college or work. Being cared for so family members should care for the sick member. Also, the ill member should take responsibility by trying their best to get better to continue playing their role in society and communicate with their doctor in order to get better…

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Working At Taco Bell: The Conflict Theory
    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Working At Taco Bell: The Conflict Theory

    What is a conflict theory and how does it apply to medical sociology? The conflict theory is built on the idea of capitalism and power-struggle among the classes. Therefore, in capitalistic societies the elites control the norms and values and force those standards upon less privileged. These social processes create struggles over life-essential resources among various groups in the society and lead to external conflict among the people. Capitalism and profits are the essences of the conflict theory. Therefore, since we live in a Capitalistic economy, people are treated as mere means for the higher attainments of profits. Based on this premise, capitalism works to dehumanize workers and alienate them from the process, product, self, and…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Non Profit vs. for Profit
    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Non Profit vs. for Profit

    When we evaluate the interests associated within the healthcare industry, we must take into consideration the value it has on today’s society and economy. This issue has been heavily debated in that…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Biom550: Allocation Of Scarce Medical Resources
    • 4444 Words
    • 18 Pages

    Biom550: Allocation Of Scarce Medical Resources

    Allocation of scarce medical resources and access to medical care are major bioethical concerns in today’s…

    • 4444 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    HCS 440 Week 3 Health Care Spending
    • 1530 Words
    • 5 Pages

    HCS 440 Week 3 Health Care Spending

    Health care is something that is always going to be around because it is needed by all entities. Health care is a resource that is not readily available to all due to the issue of affordability. Many people try to find the most affordable health care insurance, but sometimes economic hardships do not allow for people to get insured or remain insured; therefore leaving many people without health care insurance. The government has tried to help many people by providing those who qualify with Medicaid and Medical but those who don’t qualify are still left uninsured and with the burden of overwhelming medical bills. Even though health care is at times unaffordable it is still an entity that is used by all people. Often time’s people cannot afford to pay for health care expenses or health care insurance, therefore leaving many people with massive health care bills. In the United States, which has both a high level of health care spending per capita and a relatively high rate of real growth in spending, the share of GDP devoted to health care spending grew from 9% of GDP in 1980 to 16% of GDP in 2008. This 7 percentage-point increase in health care spending as a share of GDP is one of the largest across the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD.…

    • 1530 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Obamacare
    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Pros And Cons Of Obamacare

    Marmor, puts forth a comparison of the healthcare systems of Germany, Canada, England, Japan, and France to the United States. “Each, as distinct from the United States, has created a universal health care program fundamentally based on the idea that medical care is a merit, not a market good. The equal access standard does not, of course, mean ideal practice, but care is more equally distributed as a result” (Marmor p.569). This is now what ObamaCare seeks to do by imposing on the health care system that is seen to be run by private-profit companies, whose bottom line is money and not health. This idea of medical care being a “merit” and having more equally distributed care are two factors entailed in ObamaCare. This is where the elements of democracy - freedom, equality and solidarity once again come into play. Healthcare becoming more equally distributed directly deals with equality which is directly linked to solidarity and the sense of belonging or acceptance as those previously without healthcare are now in the…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Obamacare: The Role Of Health Care Reform In The United States
    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Obamacare: The Role Of Health Care Reform In The United States

    Other industrialized countries have their governments argue with health care providers, drug companies, and other people that play a part in health care costs. “In countries like Canada and Britain prices are set by the government. In other countries, like Germany and Japan, they are set by providers and insurers sitting in a room and coming to an agreement, with the government stepping in to set prices if they fail.”(Klein) America spends too much on health care and has made the system into capitalism at its finest. The government needs to step in and start negotiating with drug companies and hospitals and insurers to bring down the high costs. Doctors in the United States get paid more than any other doctors in the world, and patients get charged more if they want to see a specialist, but in other countries they’re small costs stay the same whether they see a specialist or not. The United States is leading the world in medical spending and because of the high costs 50 million Americans remain uninsured and dealing with ailments that they cannot afford to have…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ration Care: The Universalized Universal Healthcare System
    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ration Care: The Universalized Universal Healthcare System

    The problem is that every society must distribute a finite sum of resources in discord with endless demands. All-inclusive health systems, at times, need long waitlist that emanates from large demands. Often, care is said to be 'rationed.' Knowing that all systems face an overwhelming need for care, it is no surprise that capitalist systems of medicine must too 'ration' care (Oliver 518). The chief distinction between these competing system being how they ration care. A quasi-market system allows care to those who can afford it, yet universal healthcare systems affords care equivocally.…

    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sick Around the World
    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sick Around the World

    In “Sick Around the World”, he made the most important point: the root problem with health care is the rate that costs are increasing. Under the present system, there are no incentives to control costs. As costs go up, insurance premiums go up and individuals and employers can't afford insurance. This fast-moving and entertaining hour starts from the premise that the American health care system, with its high costs, multiple gatekeepers and failure to provide insurance for much of the population, is a failure. Mr. Reid makes the case (in about 10 minutes per country) that other capitalist democracies have not just cheaper and more equally available health care, but also better care over all, with longer life expectancies and lower infant mortality rates.…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Class Domination Theory Of Wealth
    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Class Domination Theory Of Wealth

    This letter is to confront the issue of affordable health care and the distribution and concentration of wealth in the United States today. Because of the skewed distribution of wealth, we need a stronger support system to be able to redistribute this wealth and make health care an option for all in America. If we continue to go on with our past and current styles of administering health care to the public, we are not going to progress, and we are not going to be able to better the lives of the American people, particularly those that cannot afford health care. Wealth virtually has a direct association with power, and we turn to the class-domination theory of power to better understand the lack of equal distribution of wealth in our country.…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Us Health Care System
    • 1452 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Us Health Care System

    According to Farlex, the U.S. Health Care System “is largely controlled by the free market, which is believed to provide limitations on how much physicians and other specialists can charge to their patients. However, many critics of the current system, including organizations composed of physicians, note that the system has become largely bureaucratic and that cost-cutting measures and pressures caused by competition and the need for profit have reduced the effectiveness of medical practice. Despite these problems, many commentators have not been able to agree as to the proper level of control that state or federal governments should have over health care” (National health care, 2011).…

    • 1452 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More