Social Class And Mental Illness Essay

Question 2 – What are some of the factors that cause mental illness? Describe the individualistic view of mental illness. What is the link between social class and mental illness? Describe the two theory types that have been used to describe this link.

Factors that cause mental illness:

• Complex interactions of genetic/biological, psychological and social/environmental factors.

• Major social disruptions, such as wars or natural disasters can promote the development of mental illness through stress and breakdown of social order.

• Individualistic nature and speeded-up pace of life in modern industrialized societies, erodes traditional sources of social stability, such as family and religion

• Social causation – effects of poverty, access to health care and work related

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In industrialized nations, major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder account for 4 of the 10 leading causes of mental illness.

The link between social class and mental illness:

“Classes”, in sociological thinking, are groups of people who share a common economic condition, interest, or relationship to the means of production. There are two classes: owners and workers otherwise known as have and have not. People inherit the social class of their parents.

• Economic inequality – income and wealth differences across individuals and groups.

• Different opportunities that control life decisions cause psychological stress

• Materialistic approach – proposes that disadvantaged populations suffer from higher levels of total exposure to negative conditions over their lifetimes, resulting in poorer health outcomes than more advantaged groups (Fox and Meier,