On Sociology & Becoming a Patient

'The Subject matter of Sociology
& Becoming a Patient'

A primer for my picking up Hodges' model, or being pressed onboard, was early exposure to history and sociology. There was an understandable emphasis in the (then) school of nursing (registered mental nursing) on the role of society, social history, lunacy and the asylums, law, and attitude towards mental illnesses.

Continuing to sort books (inc. secondhand) and papers, there is:

Maclean, Una. (1974) Nursing in contemporary society. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/qhqc24fv

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic -------------------------------------------  mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group-population

'The sociological viewpoint can be taken on many different subjects. Thus, political sociology has to do with people's voting behaviour and their reactions to the processes of government, while the sociology of education takes into account the influence of various social factors upon educational opportunities and achievements. In addition, social psychology, social psychiatry and social medicine are all related to medical sociology. These terms all imply the use of sociological methods and insights in different areas of human behaviour, and the divisions between them are a convenient way of dealing with what is a very wide territory. Such divisions may suggest that events and things in the real world are already separated in themselves, whereas the divisions are actually in the minds of the people who make them. It is easier to regard sociology generally as being the study of people's behaviour in groups, groups of all kinds, large and small, casual or permanent, groups of which people are very conscious as well as those of which they may scarcely be aware. Thus, much of sociology is concerned with the human family, a group whose form and composition varies from one part of the world to another and from one set of people to another but which does have common features and functions wherever it is studied. The family will be referred to repeatedly in this book, since not only does it affect all our lives but it profoundly influences the way in which people react in relation to illness.' pp.8-9.

Maclean pointed to the 'innumerable other human groupings' (p.9) and how these - family, schools, clubs, professional training, friendships, audiences, tourist crowds, customers, villager, hostel dweller; such groupings, some historic, temporary or transient - also differentiate into populations, that inform epidemiological and demographic studies. 

It is remarkable how societies have changed globally, since Maclean's 1974 text.

As if to presage the one-to-one encounters to follow, chapter 2 'Becoming a patient' after a brief history 'sickness' arrives at the work of the American sociologist Talcott Parsons.

I don't have the date but I remember making a note the four combined conditions at work for an individual to adopt the sick role. What stood out was how something we think is individually determined is social and so often a question of permission.

Maclean's text (with my emphasis) on these factors follows; and is then mapped to the domains of Hodges' model:

'In the first place, the illness must be outside the patient's control, in no sense his own fault. Second, the sick role will allow him exemption from his other roles. with their associated obligations and duties. For example, a man can legitimately give up work and leave his usual family 'responsibilities to his wife. But, third, the sick role requires that the patient should positively desire to get well, he should not relish the relinquishment of responsibility and, fourth, he has the obligation to seek competent medical help.' p.25.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic -------------------------------------------  mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group-population

the sick role requires that the patient should positively desire to get well	the illness must be outside the patient's control, in no sense his own fault.
the sick role will allow him exemption from his other roles. with their associated obligations and duties	he has the obligation to seek competent medical help

Again as an exercise you might care to reflect on this and our experiences since the millennium?

What is most remarkable is the need to view this as a 'future lesson' in terms of how societies must, will change to meet the challenges of tomorrow, and the day after that ...