1. The social institution responsible for the maintenance of health and the advancement of the practice and use of medicine.

2.  Physical  Mental  Social

3.  Cultural patterns define health.  Yaws (skin disease)  Cultural standards of health change over time.  Women & college; cigarette smoking; bathing  A society’s technology affects people’s health.  Sanitation; use of world’s resources  Social inequality affects people’s health  Access to healthcare; technology; illnesses of affluence

4.  Age, Gender, Class, & Race  Eating Disorders  Sexually Transmitted Diseases  Ethics of Death

5.  Sick Role patterns of behavior for those who are ill  Physicians Role

6.  Illness is socially defined  What is considered sick in one place may be considered normal somewhere else  Treatment as a Stage (dramaturgy)  Gynecological exam, esp. by male doctor

7.  Access to care  US is the only industrialized nation w/o universal healthcare.  Profit  Politics  Discrimination w/in profession “supported” by science (hysteria)  Ignores social issues like poverty