- Title
- The social determinants of health and illness
- Creator
- Poole, Marilyn; Germov, John
- Relation
- Public Sociology: An Introduction to Australian Society p. 352-369
- Relation
- https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/other-books/Public-Sociology-Edited-by-John-Germov-and-Marilyn-Poole-9781743315873
- Publisher
- Allen & Unwin
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2015
- Description
- We often think of health and illness as an intensely individual experience - we have all suffered from a common cold, and we can all explain what it means to feel well. Yet sociologists point out that health and illness are also a social experience, such as exposure to unsafe workplaces or access to affordable health services. Just like Dr John Snow's intervention to stop public access to contaminated water, sociologists study the way people's social environments - their living and working conditions - impact on their experience and understanding of health and illness. While individuals experience health problems and require treatment when ill, many health problems are the result of wider social determinants - social, cultural, political, and economic factors that directly and indirectly influence individual and population health. If health and illness can have social origins, then it may be possible to prevent, lessen, or resolve health problems through social reforms.
- Description
- 3rd
- Subject
- social structure; social gradient of health; public health; medical dominance; social model of health
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1301544
- Identifier
- uon:20314
- Identifier
- ISBN:9781743315873
- Language
- eng
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