Sociology and Health

Many people (including students of sociology) often wonder about the relevance of social sciences (especially sociology) to health issues. In general, it is often a challenge to discuss the nexus between social science and health. Why medical sociology? What does sociology have to do with medicine or health? This chapter aims to answer these questions. It starts with the meaning of sociology and its links to health studies—a definition and brief history of medical sociology and topic description of the discipline. All health problems are conceived as social problems, which are the core focus of sociological studies. This chapter explains the characteristics of social problems with regard to health issues. Health problems are viewed as parts of social pathologies by advancing the sociological dimensions of health problems. The chapter then attempts to re-explain the topical description of medical sociology (first advanced by David Mechanic in 1968) and includes some current issues. The topical descriptions specifically include social aetiology of disease, cultural beliefs and social response to illness, sociology of medical care and hospitals, sociology of psychiatry, social transition and health care, traditional medicine (alternative medicine), sociology of bioethics, health policy and politics, social epidemiology, sociology of dying and death, and medical education.