1. Social Psychology: Sociological Perspectives
David E. Rohall
Melissa A. Milkie
Jeffrey W. Lucas
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2. Social Psychology: Sociological Perspectives
Chapter 8: Mental Health and Illness

3. The Sociology of Mental Health
The sociology of mental health is the study of the social arrangements that affect mental illness and its consequences
Psychologists typically emphasize internal processes
Biologists focus on the role of physiological aspects of mental illness
Sociologists do not discount biology and psychology in studying mental illness but they believe a social lens is critical to gaining the whole picture of mental illness
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

4. SI: The Social Construction of Mental Health
Some sociologists focus on the socially constructed nature of what we call “mental illness”
They emphasize historical changes that have led to a redefinition of mental illness or current-day examples of how groups work together to create new labels for mental illnesses
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

5. SI: Madness and Civilization
Michel Foucault (1965) was a French social philosopher who studied the meaning of mental illness through history
1656 was an important date in the history of madness because that is the year that the “Hôpital General” opened in Paris
In the age of reason, people who thought or acted unreasonable needed to be separated from the masses
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

6. SI: The Medicalization of Deviance
Researchers with a constructionist perspective focus on the medicalization of deviance, ways in which mental health problems have come boundaries of medicine
Historically, three forces have driven what aspects of social life become medicalized:
The power and authority of the medical profession
Activities of social movements and interest groups
Directed organizational on professional activities
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

7. SI: Modern Forces of Medicalization
Modern interest groups influencing the medicalization process are more economic than social in nature, including:
Health maintenance organizations (HMOs)
The pharmaceutical industry
Consumers
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

8. SI: The Social Control of Deviance
Thomas Szasz argued that mental illness is a myth, that it is socially constructed like any other aspect of social life
Psychoanalysis is a moral rather than a medical endeavor
Mental illness differs from criminal deviance in two ways:
Rather than being fined or punished for deviant behavior, mental-health deviants are “treated”
Mental-health deviance is more controlled by the client whereas criminal deviance is controlled by the state
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

9. SI: Labeling Theory and Deviance
Labeling theory emphasizes the processes by which an individual comes to accept a negative characteristic as part of her identity
In the case of medical deviance, this process may include accepting the labels associated with mental illnesses (e.g., an alcoholic or someone with ADHD)
As applied to mental health, labeling theory emphasizes different agents of social control employed to segregate and label criminal versus ill groups
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

10. SSP: The Social Causes of Stress
Those using the social structure and personality approach have identified a number of patterns related to stress
The stress process model attempts to help us understand the social connections among stressful events and strains, the resources people bring to deal with problems, and the outcomes they experience
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

11. SSP: Stressors and Outcomes
Stressors can come in at least two forms:
Negative life events
Chronic strains
Negative life events and chronic strains produce poor mental health
Typical outcomes include emotional disorders like depression and behavioral disorders like alcohol or drug abuse
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

12. SSP: Mediating and Moderating Conditions
People have different resources with which to manage stressful events:
Personal resources
Social support or social resources
Personal and social resources can act as moderators or mediators in the stress process
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

13. SSP: Gender and Social Support
Social support and other resources are not distributed evenly across the population
Research shows that men have larger, less close networks of relationships than women; women have closer relationships with fewer people
These differences may reflect structural differences in men’s and women’s lives
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

14. SSP: The Epidemiology of Mental Health
The last component of the stress-process model involves individuals’ socioeconomic characteristics
The epidemiology of mental health emphasizes the distribution of mental health conditions in society
Different socioeconomic characteristics are associated with different levels of mental health problems
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

15. SSP: Race, Class, and Mental Health
The prevalence of mental health disorders is inversely related to economic status
Some research shows that African Americans are more prone to mental illness than European Americans and Latino Americans
These differences may be due to stresses associated with racism in society
The differences may also be due to the higher concentration of Blacks in poverty
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

16. SSP: Gender, Family, and Well-Being
Married people are generally happier, healthier, and financially better off than single, divorced, and widowed people
The positive effects of marriage on health and well-being may reflect access to social support or the committed nature of marital relationships
Women report higher levels of depression and other emotional disorders than men
Men are more likely to exhibit behavioral disorders such as alcoholism
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

17. SSP: Community and Neighborhood Contexts
Communities and neighborhoods represent environmental and/or social conditions that affect most or all their residents
There is some evidence that there is a malaise or psychological state of unhappiness associated with particularly rural or urban areas reflecting lack of stimulation or poor living conditions
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

18. SSP: Urban Malaise and Ambient Hazards
Poor economic conditions produce poor mental health through exposure to ambient hazards, exposure to crime, poor living conditions, and lack of services
Ambient hazards associated with urban life reflect both negative life events and chronic strains
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

19. GP: Mental Health as a Status Characteristic
According to the group processes perspective, people set up different expectations of individuals’ performance depending on their status characteristics
Mental health can represent a status that influences group interactions
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

20. GP: Mental Illness as a Diffuse Status
Wagner (1993) argued that mental illness can act as a diffuse status characteristic under three conditions:
The illness must be considered something that is unwanted or less desirable than other states
Mental illness must also be associated with other characteristics that are tied to the illness
There must be general expectations associated with a person’s ability to perform in a group
Under these conditions, mentally illness can have a negative impact on interactions
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

21. GP: Mental Health and Stigma
People labeled with mental illness can react by using techniques such as passing and covering
Passing and covering are ways in which individuals manage their self-concepts in public venues
From this perspective, many mental illnesses can be covered quite well
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

22. GP: The Career of the Mental Patient
Ervin Goffman (1961) studied the ways that mentally-ill patients managed stigma in asylums
He described mental institutions as total institutions, places where individuals are required to isolate themselves from the rest of society
The goal of the asylum is to force the patient to adjust her senses of self
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

23. GP: Coping with Confinement
Goffman showed that patients coped with confinement in many different ways:
Conversion
Intransigence
Withdrawal
Colonization
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

24. Chapter 8: Bringing It All Together
Mental health can be treated as a form of deviance from the norms of society
Symbolic interactionists examine how mental illness has changed meaning in society over time
Social structure and personality scholars focus on the societal sources of stress and access to resources to cope with stresses
Group processes scholars emphasize the way that mental health can serve as a status characteristic
Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007