MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY Dr. Dhafer B. AL-Youzbaki Professor Assistant MB.Ch.B M.Sc. Ph.D. Manager of Medical Education Development Center MED Center College of Medicine University of Mosul

COURSE IN MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY

Lecture no. 1 Medical Sociology, definitions and illuminations Lecture no. 1 Medical Sociology, definitions and illuminations

Instructional Objectives At end of this lecture, students, would be able to; 1- Define and classify social sciences. 2- Differentiate between; socialism, capitalism and socialization. 3- Identify; norms, deviance and social control. 4- Recognize; authority, culture, race & ethnicity. 5- Spot; standard of living, social defense, social problems. 6- Mark systems of society. To a degree acceptable to the accreditation of College.

Social Sciences and Medicine: Health can not be isolated from its social context. Social, cultural, educational, economic, political, religious factors have a direct bearing on the incidence, prevalence, course and outcome of a wide variety of all diseases and health problems.

Examples of that, poverty, malnutrition, poor sanitation, lack of education, inadequate housing, unemployment, poor working conditions, bad cultural and behavioral factors all predisposes to ill health.

The patient is no longer considered as one who is under strict laboratory control (i.e. not a lab animal or a case) but, an individual with personal characteristics, variable habits, customs and beliefs all are reacting on his body and mind. *Good doctors are being identified as those who treat people, and bad doctors as those who treat cases.

Classification of Social Sciences: 1. Behavioral Sciences: - Psychology. - Social Psychology. - Social Anthropology. - Sociology (one of its specialty is medical sociology). 2. Demography. 3. Economics. 4. Political Sciences.

Sociology: the scientific study of human society through investigations of social behaviors and relationships. Medical sociology: science that concerned with implications of sociology for the problems of health and disease in the society. It is part of community medicine and is essentially a practical discipline.

Historical review: The first awareness of the effects of social and economic factors on disease process was in 1930s, and the first institute of social medicine was established in 1943 in U.K. Now, behavioral sciences are one of the seventh essentials of medical undergraduates teaching all over the world, and their absence in the curricula results in loss of accreditation.

Definition of terms: Society: an organization of member agents. It is a system of social relationships between individuals. Community: The people living in a particular place or region and usually linked by common interests. So it is a social group determined by geographical boundaries and or common values of interests.

Social Structure → anatomy Social Organization → physiology

Social Institutions: Is an organized complex pattern of behavior in which a no. of persons participate in order to further group interest. The family, the school, the club, the hospital and professional associations are all social institutions. Within each social institution, the rights and duties of the members are defined.

Socialism: Any economic policy that favors the use of belongings and resources of the country for the public welfare. It is a system of production and distribution based on social ownership for raising the living standard of the working class (motto here is "all for all" and "each for all"). Capitalism: which is based on private ownership of the means of the production and aims at maximum private profit at the expense of the working class (motto here "all for each" and "each for each").

Socialization: The process by which an individual gradually acquires culture (beliefs, customs, traditions and prejudices) and becomes a member of a social group. It includes 2 parts: Primary socialization: When a child first grow and be a member of his family, some of these beliefs and customs may be dangerous to his health as smoking, and hysteria. * Since the primary socialization is started in the family, so it could be the first step in the solution of every personal problem.

Secondary socialization: A process which operates through a person whole life i.e. when being a member of a new group or society as being a doctor (may be + or -)

Norms of Society: the standard of behavior expected from a person by their social group. Deviance: departure from accepted behaviors and it includes any thing from bad table manner to murder.

Social Control Mechanism: In every society, there are rules, formal (laws of enactment and parliament) and informal for maintenance of relationships of authority and subordination.

Authority: is the power of influence which some people have over the others which is generally accepted. It is of different types as Traditional authority (e.g. the father in the family). Bureaucratic authority (e.g. the dean of college). Charismatic authority (e.g. the religious leader). Professional authority (e.g. the senior in a hospital).

Culture: learned behavior which has been socially acquired and it is the product of human society and man largely is the product of his cultural environment. It is transmitted from one generation to another through learning process, formal and informal. Race: When population differentiated according to certain biological characteristics only. Ethnics: When population differentiated according to certain cultural aspect of racial groups.

Definition of Culture: the organization of shared experience which determine our patterns of thinking and feeling, it is socially learned, shared and reinforced. It guides our daily behavior (we recognize the situation and behave automatically).

Acculturation: "culture contact" When there is contact between two peoples with different types of culture, there is diffusion of culture in both sides, it occurs in various ways: -Trade and commerce. -Industrialization. -Propagation of religion. -Education. -Conquest.

Standard of Living: usual scale of our expenditure, the goods we consumed and the services we enjoy. It includes food, dress, house and in short " mode of living" and it depends on: -the level of national income -the total amount of goods and services in a country. -the size of population -the level of education -general price level -distribution of national income

Global Epidemiological Transition Western (developed) countries: 1. Stage of Communicable diseases: controlled in the middle of nineteenth century by improvement of living standards after industrial revolution. 2. Stage of CNCDs: started after economic exhilaration after the end of II world war and controlled by active medical researches and information technology in middle 1990s. 3. Stage of social diseases: started from 1990s onwards.

Social Stress: It is a major source of stress, particularly in transitional societies, and it is the conflicts generated by new opportunities and frustrations arising from societal change and it includes: - The wave of migration from rural to urban areas and the consequent diminution in the traditional family support system (urbanization). - Greater exposure through the mass media to ideas that have been previously culturally alien. - Tourism. - Change in the technological needs.

Social Problems: When an individual problem affecting large no. of population and lead to threat to welfare and safety of the whole group. Examples: Poverty, crime, alcoholism, venereal diseases and addiction.

Social Defense: The entire process of preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitative services for the protection of society from antisocial, criminal and deviant conduct of man and it includes: -Prevention and control of juvenile delinquency -Eradication of beggary -Social and moral hygiene program -Welfare of prisoners -Prison reform -Elimination of prostitution -Control of alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling and suicide

Systems of the society and its effect on heath of population: -Economic system. -Social system. -Political system. -Ideological system. -Cultural system. -Educational system. -Health system. -Army system. -Religious system.