Restorative justice empowers victims and challenges offenders

"Anthropology examines diverse aspects of human social life, its processes and causes and the interrelations of with other disciplines such as human biology, ecology, economics, politics and religion". As a subfield, medical anthropology emphasizes on the interrelationships of society, culture and biology and is the anthropological field most central to public health (Hahn, 2009). Public health anthropology has developed substantially with growing interest during past 20 years. It studies what culture causes consequences of health events among population and it is beyond biological aspects of health (Sax, 2014). One of the essential components is health seeking behaviour which is what people do when they get sick, for instances, going to clinics or quacks, treating at home with remedy, or with diet, or doing exercise, etc.

In that sense Parsons noticed that when a person is sick, they are unable to carry out their social responsibility normally. Therefore, Parsons implies that the only way to understand the illness and its effect to society are to look at illness in a different angle as the form of deviance, which undermines the, role of society thus; it should be a way to control the situation same as crime and other form of deviance. This led Parsons to assess the relationship between illness and social control. Haralambos (2000 pg294) Since Parsons emphasised new advances in dealing with illness; thus, he put forward the historical method in the sociology of health known as sick role, he has then shifted illness from biological concept to social theory. Haralambos (2000 pg294) Parsons derived model of sick from studies of Freud, Max Weber and The functionalist.

Also, Parsons (1951) claimed illness as disruptive, a kind of deviance and is therefore potentially disruptive to the social order. Parsons saw society as a functioning whole, and was concerned with how the social order was maintained, and how various institutions in society in the case health care institution function... ... middle of paper ... ...power, which extend throughout the whole of society. He described what he called the clinical gaze as having moved beyond the hospital and the clinic into many and diverse sites such as our schools, workplaces, and homes. For Foucault (1973) the clinical gaze was a facet of a new kind of power, which relied on surveillance and inspection. In conclusion, this critique has critically examined the view that medicine is a form of social control.

Criticising the distinction between illness and disease, last studies in medical sociology consider it to be the same with the Cartesian dichotomy body/mind; disease being associated with the body and illness with the mind. On the other hand, this dichotomy reflects the separation between nature and culture, when disease can be understood as a natural phenomenon, while illness it is located on the side of the social and the cultural context. Looking deeper at the concept of disease, Bryan Turner argues that, disease is far from being a neutral organic phenomenon; the disease has also an obvious social and cultural side (B. S. Turner, 2008). This claim is based on the idea that what we call a natural phenomenon is, to some extent, a cultural construct . Perception of body normality or lack of disease is a phenomenon that varies depending on cultural , social and political context in which the medical knowledge is placed (Turner, 2008).

You might have another illness of your own requiring another one of these papers if you’re even considering that absurd idea! Let us begin by defining illness and health. “Modern medicine is based on and dominated by concepts, methods, an... ... middle of paper ... ...ikely to see a doctor for non-serious health problems” (Brown 43). These physicians also argue that patients become trapped in beliefs that they have an illness, allowing the beliefs to affect them psychologically, worsening their symptoms as a result of stress and depression. The social construction of fibromyalgia is a quite complicated issue and requires much research.

The traditional model to exploring this treatment is to look towards the biomedical system, which “employ different explanatory models and idioms to make sense of disease and give meaning to the individual and social experience of illness” (Kleinman 1973: 86), and often leaves out the social, economical and cultural factors that influence the concept of treatment. The concept of treatment is different within each and every culture. Some cultures view treatment as praying over an...

In so doing it has created awareness and led to a discussion about the implications of social inequalities on health outcomes of individuals over the years. The theory also provides a broad perspective about disease processes. This has allowed health researcher/professionals to design holistic treatment/care plans that does not only focus on the biomedical disease process but to take other aspects of people’s life into consideration (WHO, 2010). However, the theory might not be applicable to other cultures. Generally, people from different cultural backgrounds have personal coping and social resources that can assist them to avoid negative experiences that affect health status, and to deal with such experiences when they happen.

This ambiguity has underscored debates and conflicts in recent years between patients, academics, politicians, and medical practitioners on issues of medical authority, the extent of involvement in the decision making process over personal health as well as the health of others related to them through social structures and institutions (Van Krieken et al. 2006, Blaxter 2000, Bury 2008, White 2002). This essay will attempt to illustrate how “health” is a social phenomenon through the examination of power and inequality. It will focus on the social causes and effects of medicalisation and how the attitudes and positions people occupy in society influence their medical needs. This essay will also highlight some of the challenges faced by the societies around the world in addressing medical inequality.

Finally, the ways in which individuals negotiate and resist the medicalisation of death will be discussed including the rise of pro-euthanasia groups, increasing use of complementary medicine, and the popularity of the hospice movement. The main elements of the medical model of health are the search for objective, discernable signs of disease, its diagnosis and treatment (Biswas, 1993). Therefore, by adhering to this reductionist view, the human body is seen as a biochemical machine (Turner, 1995) and health merely as an absence of disease, a commodity to be bought and sold. The rise of hospitals with their goal of curing and controlling disease has led to the marginalisation of lay medicine, and a focus upon the individual rather than society as a cause of ill health. Health education and promotion with their focus upon 'victim blaming' and individualism have extended the remit of the medical profession from the hospital into the community.

However, personal models are unique in that they are empirically based, originating in studies of patients. Focusing on Illness cognition within the con... ... middle of paper ... ...Family Practice 2002;19:333–8. Mitchell Peck B,Ubel,P,Roter DL et al. Do unmet expectations for specific tests,referrals,and new medications reduce patients’ satisfaction. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2004;19:1080–7.