Understanding Health: Physical, Mental and Social

The Multifaceted Nature of Health

• Health involves physical, mental, and social well-being, all of which are interconnected and influence each other.
• Physical health is the condition of the body, including the absence of illness or injury.
• Mental health refers to emotional, psychological, and social well-being, affecting thoughts, feelings, and actions.
• Social health involves relationships, social networks, and societal integration, which influence individual well-being.
• Mental and physical health are interconnected, and stress or anxiety can lead to physical issues like heart disease.
• Social and mental health are interconnected, and strong social connections can support mental health and reduce the risk of conditions like depression.

Social Determinants of Health

• Social determinants of health are the social and environmental conditions in which people live and work and significantly impact health outcomes.
• Socioeconomic status (SES) includes income, education, and occupation, and higher SES typically correlates with better health outcomes.
• Social support networks and access to strong relationships can mitigate stress and improve mental health.
• Access to healthcare, including the availability and affordability of medical services, plays a crucial role in health outcomes.
• The physical environment, including the quality of housing, air, water, and neighborhood conditions, can impact health, potentially leading to exposure to pollution or unsafe housing.
• Education is linked to better health because educated individuals are more likely to make informed health decisions.
• Access to nutritious food is a key determinant of health, and food deserts can lead to poor diets and chronic conditions.
• Public health policies addressing social determinants can reduce health disparities.
• Community-based interventions that improve living conditions, education, and access to resources can enhance public health.

Health Inequality

• Definition: Health inequalities refer to unfair and avoidable differences in health outcomes, often due to social, economic, and political conditions.
• People from lower socioeconomic classes generally have poorer health outcomes due to limited access to healthcare and unhealthy living conditions.
• Racial and ethnic minorities often face worse health outcomes because of systemic racism, discrimination, and lack of access to care.
• Gender inequality affects both men and women, with social roles and expectations limiting access to healthcare or influencing health decisions.
• People with higher education levels generally experience better health due to better access to information and health resources.
• Historical factors such as colonization and slavery have long-lasting effects on health disparities.
• Economic systems like capitalism and income inequality contribute to health disparities by limiting access to healthcare for the poor.
• Disparities in access to healthcare services, like insurance, doctors, and hospitals, exacerbate health inequality.

Global Health Inequality

• Health inequality is a global issue, with significant differences in healthcare outcomes between countries due to wealth, infrastructure, and political stability.
• Wealthier nations have better access to healthcare, education, and resources, leading to longer life expectancies and lower infant mortality rates, compared to developing countries.
• Poorer nations are often more vulnerable to diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis due to a lack of resources.
• Countries with poor healthcare systems face challenges in addressing widespread diseases.
• International organizations like WHO work to address these global disparities, but solutions are complicated by political, economic, and social factors.

Health Care Systems

• Different countries have varying healthcare systems based on factors like funding, accessibility, and regulation.
• Universal healthcare is provided to all citizens, often funded by taxes, such as in the UK's NHS.
• In private insurance-based systems, individuals purchase private health insurance, often provided through employers, such as in the U.S.
• Mixed systems involve both public and private sectors providing healthcare, exemplified by Canada.
• Strengths of universal systems include everyone having access to healthcare, which reduces health disparities, and lower overall healthcare costs due to prevention and early intervention.
• Strengths of private insurance systems include more personalized care, quicker access in some cases, and a greater choice of healthcare providers.
• Challenges of universal systems include the potential for high costs for governments and long wait times.
• Challenges of private systems include the potential creation of a two-tier system, in which wealthier individuals receive better care than poorer individuals.
• Health outcomes, access to care, and overall public health vary significantly depending on the system in place.
• The U.S. system is known for its high healthcare costs and unequal access to care, especially for marginalized groups.
• Countries like Sweden, Canada, and the UK provide insights into the benefits of universal healthcare systems.

Health Policy and Disability

• Health Policy: Decisions and actions by governments to manage and improve healthcare systems.
• These policies address disparities, healthcare access, and funding.
• Disability is both a medical and social construct.
• The social model focuses on how society's structures and attitudes limit the participation of disabled people.
• Disability is a key factor in health inequalities due to discrimination and barriers to healthcare.

Define Globalization

• Globalization is the process by which businesses, technologies, cultures, and governments become interconnected and interdependent on a global scale.
• This involves the exchange of goods, services, information, and ideas, and increasing cultural, political, and economic links between nations.
• Economic globalization: Integration of national economies through trade, investment, and financial markets.
• Cultural globalization: Spread of cultural elements like media, fashion, food, and entertainment across borders.
• Political globalization: Growing influence of international organizations and treaties that govern global affairs.

Compare the Three Major Theories of Globalization

• Globalization can be analyzed through Modernization Theory, World Systems Theory, and World Society Theory.
• Each theory provides a different perspective on how globalization affects countries and the world as a whole.

Modernization Theory

• Modernization theory suggests a linear path to development where all countries eventually reach the same level of economic development as industrialized nations.
• Societies progress through similar stages of development, from traditional agricultural economies to modern industrial ones.
• Development is driven by technological innovation and economic growth, and it can be accelerated by adopting Western-style institutions.
• Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth:
  • Traditional society: Agricultural and low productivity.
  • Preconditions for take-off: Early signs of industrialization.
  • Take-off: Rapid growth and industrialization.
  • Drive to maturity: Widespread growth across various sectors.
  • Age of high mass consumption: High standard of living and advanced services.
• Critiques of Modernization theory: ethnocentric and overly simplistic, assumes all countries can follow the same path of development.

World Systems Theory

• Immanuel Wallerstein developed the theory, emphasizing the global capitalist system.
• The theory suggests the world is divided into core, semi-periphery, and periphery nations.
• The core consists of wealthy, industrialized nations that dominate the global economy.
• The semi-periphery includes nations that are in transition or have a mix of industrial and agricultural sectors.
• The periphery consists of poor, underdeveloped countries often exploited for resources and labor.
• The world is structured in a way that benefits the core nations at the expense of the periphery in the global division of labor.
• This theory heavily focuses on the impact of global capitalism and may overlook internal factors influencing development within individual nations.

World Society Theory

• World Society Theory focuses on the role of global institutions and ideas in shaping the behaviours and policies of countries around the world, emphasizing the global cultural aspect of globalization.
• Global norms and institutions (e.g., the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund) play a significant role in shaping how countries operate and align with global standards.
• There is a shared global culture and system of governance that influences all countries, even if not economically dominant.
• A criticism is that this theory may oversimplify the diversity of global cultures.
• The critique also includes overlooking the power dynamics between global institutions and national governments.

Analyze Different Strategies to Alleviate Global Inequality

• Global inequality refers to disparities in income, health, education, and opportunity between countries.
• Different strategies include economic growth and development, fair trade, debt relief, global education and capacity building, social movements and global advocacy, and sustainable development.

Economic Growth and Development:

• Strategy: Encouraging economic growth involves industrialization, technological innovation, and investment.
• Application: Policies focus on increasing productivity and improving infrastructure in developing countries through foreign direct investment and free trade agreements.
• Criticism: Economic growth alone doesn't necessarily reduce inequality if wealth is concentrated or if environmental and social impacts are not addressed.

Fair Trade:

• Strategy: Fair trade ensures producers in developing countries receive fair wages and work in safe conditions.
• Application: Fair trade certification ensures goods like coffee, chocolate, and clothing are produced under ethical conditions.
• Criticism: Fair trade can sometimes lead to higher prices for consumers and doesn't always solve the root causes of inequality.

Debt Relief:

• Strategy: Debt relief reduces or cancels the debt of poor countries, which hinders economic growth and development.
• Application: International debt relief initiatives aim to reduce the burden of debt on developing nations.
• Criticism: Debt relief can alleviate short-term pressures but doesn't address long-term structural issues within the global economy.

Global Education and Capacity Building:

• Strategy: Invest in education and capacity building to improve individuals' skills and knowledge in developing countries.
• Application: International organizations and NGOs support programs to improve access to education, healthcare, and skill development.
• Criticism: Sustaining educational programs can be challenging, and educational investments may not yield immediate results.

Social Movements and Global Advocacy:

• Strategy: Grassroots social movements and global advocacy networks raise awareness of inequality and advocate for policy change.
• Application: Movements like Make Poverty History or campaigns for climate justice seek to reduce inequality through public pressure on governments and international organizations.
• Criticism: Social movements can struggle to achieve concrete policy changes and often face resistance from powerful political and economic entities.

Sustainable Development:

• Strategy: Promote development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
• Application: The UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a framework for reducing inequality. The framework is measured through education, health, clean water, and environmental sustainability.
• Criticism: Balancing economic development with environmental protection is debated, and some argue that the SDGs may not go far enough in addressing deep-rooted global inequality.

Four Major Routes to Social Change

• Social change refers to shifts in societal structures, norms, values, or behavior.
• Social movements, political revolution, technological innovation, and legal change are four major routes through which social change can occur.

Social Movements:

• Definition: Collective efforts by groups of people to bring about or resist change in society.
• Example: Civil Rights Movement, Women's Liberation Movement, LGBTQ+ Rights Movement.
• Impact: Challenge existing power structures and demand changes in laws, policies, and social norms.

Political Revolution:

• Definition: Large-scale, fundamental changes in political power or organizational structures, often through violent or nonviolent means.
• Example: The French Revolution, Russian Revolution, and more recently, the Arab Spring.
• Impact: Can completely transform a nation's political system, including changes to laws, leadership, and state structures.

Technological Innovation:

• Definition: Advancements in technology that lead to significant changes in society.
• Example: The Industrial Revolution, the Digital Revolution (Internet, smartphones, etc.).
• Impact: Technological changes often create new industries, alter social relations, and drive shifts in the economy and culture.

Legal Change:

• Definition: Changes in laws and policies that can shift societal behavior and norms.
• Example: The legalization of same-sex marriage, changes in drug laws, or labor laws.
• Impact: Legal change can significantly reshape social norms, reduce inequalities, and enhance social justice.

The Rise of the Modern State

• The modern state refers to a centralized, bureaucratic structure of governance with authority over a defined territory, which plays a central role in regulating and organizing society.

Three Major Perspectives on the Evolution of the State:

Managerial Perspective:

• Overview: States as institutions that emerged to efficiently manage and regulate society.
• Ideas: States develop systems to oversee economic and social activities (e.g., taxation, public services, infrastructure) and prioritize resource organization and order maintenance.

The Militaristic Perspective:

• Overview: The State emerges and evolves due to military necessity and the need for defense and security.
• Ideas: War and military organization were central to the formation of the modern state, especially in creating a standing army and a structured defense system, highlighting coercion and force in creating states.

The Economic Perspective:

• Overview: This emphasizes the role of economic factors in the rise of the modern state.
• Ideas: States evolve to protect and promote economic interests (e.g., property rights, commerce, trade), and the state's role is seen as central in managing capitalism, controlling resources, and organizing the economy.
• Charles Tilly's idea that states are tightly connected with military conflict and resource management.

The Welfare State

• The welfare state refers to a system where the government plays a central role in providing economic assistance, healthcare, and social services to citizens, especially those in need.

Functions of the Welfare State:

• Provision of Social Services:
  • Includes healthcare, education, housing, and unemployment benefits.
• Income Redistribution:
  • Through programs like unemployment insurance and pensions, the welfare state helps redistribute wealth to reduce inequality.
• Economic Stability:
  • By regulating markets and providing social safety nets, the welfare state helps maintain economic stability and growth.

The Welfare State in the United States:

• The welfare state in the U.S. is more limited compared to countries with more comprehensive welfare systems.
• Programs: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, food assistance programs (e.g., SNAP).
• U.S. welfare programs are often the subject of political debate, with proponents arguing for their necessity in reducing poverty and critics arguing that they create dependency.

Welfare State and Social Inequality:

• Impact: The welfare state aims to reduce inequality by providing services and financial support to those most in need.
• Challenges: There are debates about the effectiveness of the welfare state in addressing deeper structural inequalities such as race, gender, and class.
• Social Policy: Universal vs. Means-Tested Programs
  • Universal Programs: Available to all citizens, regardless of income (e.g., public education, healthcare).
• Means-Tested Programs:
  • Only available to individuals who meet certain income or asset requirements (e.g., food stamps, Medicaid).

Reparation Programs

• Reparation programs are designed to compensate or make amends to individuals or groups harmed by past injustices or state policies typically related to historical wrongs, such as slavery, colonialism, or systemic discrimination.
• U.S. Reparations for Slavery: there have been ongoing discussions about compensating the descendants of enslaved people. This compensation would remedy the socio-economic impacts of slavery.
• Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) provided reparations to victims of apartheid. Reparations included financial compensation and acknowledging wrongs.
• Implementation: Reparation programs often involve financial compensation, educational opportunities, or community development initiatives.
• Challenges: Complex logistics for reparations involve figuring out who should get compensation, figuring out how much is appropriate, and how to measure the damage effectively.

The State's Relationship with the Public

• The state's role in society and its relationship with citizens evolves over time, based on shifts in political, economic, and social conditions.
• Engagement: Through elections, voting, public policy debates, and social movements, the public can influence the state's actions.
• Media and activism plays a significant role in shaping public opinion and mobilizing activism around social issues.
• Historical Changes: The state-citizen relationship has shifted over time, evolving to monarchies from democracies. Evolved from limited government to the expansion of welfare programs in the 20th century.
• Current Trends: The focus on surveillance, security, and personal data regulation has caused a shift the balance between state power and personal freedoms.

Define a Social Movement and Explain Its Core Components

• A social movement is a collective effort by a group of people to promote or resist social, political, or cultural change.
• Social movements are typically organized, sustained over time, and focused on addressing issues of inequality, injustice, or other societal problems.
• They involve the following elements:
  • Sustained Challenge: movements create ongoing, long-term challenges to the status quo or those in power.
  • Engage Power Holders: movements seek to influence or challenge those in power to bring about change.
  • Act on Behalf of Wronged Populations: advocates for groups that have been marginalized or wronged.
  • Participate in Unauthorized Action: often engage in activities that challenge or break the law to draw attention to their cause.
  • Work to Demonstrate WUNC: WUNC (worthiness, unity, numbers, and commitment) movements use to demonstrate their legitimacy and strength.

Explain the Core Theories of Why People Participate in Social Movements

• Several theories explain why people join and participate in social movements including

Ideology:

• People participate because of their beliefs in the goals and values of the movement.
• Example: Activists in the Civil Rights Movement or environmental movements.

Resources:

• Social movements require resources; people are more likely to join if they have access to these resources.
• Example: Individuals with time off work or financial stability.

Biographical Availability:

• People who have fewer personal responsibilities are more likely to engage in social movements.
• Example: Students, young adults, and retirees.

Social Ties and Identity:

• People are more likely to join social movements if their friends or social networks are involved because Social ties can create a sense of collective identity and shared purpose.
• Example: If a person's peer group is active in a social movement, they may feel social pressure or solidarity to participate.

Political Context/Critical Events:

• Movements emerge or gain momentum in response to political opportunities or significant events.
• Example: The Black Lives Matter movement.

Consequences of Participation:

• Individuals weigh the benefits and risks of participation because If they perceive the benefits outweigh the risks, they are more likely to engage.
• Example: Participation may bring positive change, but risks like arrest or public scrutiny may deter some individuals.

Describe How the Media Covers Social Movements and the Role of Framing, Selection and Description Bias, and the Protest Paradigm in This Process

• The media plays a crucial role in how social movements are portrayed to the public because it can shape perceptions, influence public opinion, and affect the movement's success.
• Framing refers to the way the media presents or interprets a social movement, which can influence how the public perceives the movement and its goals.
• The media often selects certain aspects of a movement, and this selection bias can skew public perception.
• Description bias: The language used to describe the movement can also bias coverage.
• The protest paradigm refers to the tendency of the media to focus on the most dramatic or disruptive elements of social movements while downplaying the movement's underlying issues or goals.

Define the Multiple Dimensions of Social Movement Success, Including Acceptance and New Advantages

• Social movements can succeed in various ways. Success is not always measured by immediate policy change or victory.

Acceptance:

• A movement is successful if its cause or ideas gain acceptance in society, which can involve changing public attitudes, broadening support, or gaining legitimacy.
• Example: The LGBTQ+ rights movement.

New Advantages:

• Social movement success can also be measured by the tangible benefits or advantages that are gained. Examples are changes in policy, law, or improved conditions for marginalized groups.
• Example: The Civil Rights Movement.

Long-Term Change:

• Social movements often have long-lasting effects even if immediate changes are not visible. They can lay the groundwork for future reforms or create a new social consciousness.

Apply the Concept of Public Sociology to the Research You Have Learned in This Book and Your Class

• Public Sociology refers to the application of sociological knowledge to broader societal issues, often to engage the public in discussions about social problems and solutions.
• Researchers studying social movements might use public sociology to communicate their findings to influence policy or raise awareness.
• Public sociology also to apply the concepts to real-world movements like climate change activism or racial-justice movements. It is used in considering how these movements are framed, their strategies, and the impact on society.