Social Factors on Disability and Ill Health

Social factors have a greater influence on how people experience ill-health and disability than biological ones. Discuss

The author of this assignment will look at societal factors and see if they have an impact on how people experience ill-health and disability aswell as looking at the biological factors. Academics often argue that societal factors have a much greater impact on things such as; the area you live in and how long life expectancy in that area is. Sociologist often see disability and ill-health as socially constructed whereas, the medical model see it as “disability with illness.” Can the way people live there lives have an affect on their health? The author of this assignment seeks to discuss all areas and compare them against the arguments of the biologists.

Firstly what is disability and ill-health? Disability can be anything that is physically disabling to a person, it may have effects on the way a person can live their life. It may control what movements they have, what they can see or what they can here and disability comes in completely different forms of severity. A disability is not only psychical though, its may be cognitive, mental, emotional and can even be a mix of all. It can be present from birth or a disability can form during a persons lifetime. Ill-health is different from a disability and is normally not something that lasts a lifetime and is a sign of poor health which can be treated. Firstly, looking from a sociologists perspective, the author will discuss social implications on health.

As the male of the household has always been known to be the bread-winner and the main financial support for the family, whilst the female stays at home to take care of children and household duties, it has become more stigmatised, common and acceptable for a female to admit to being unwell. Culturally, women are often expected to cope with an illness because of their domestic responsibilities. Bernard argued that: “women (married) and