The Role of Sociology in Healthcare
Sociology is the study of human groups, their behaviours, structure, and growth in the society. Sociology in healthcare focuses on a great number of sociological concepts that spread through the health care system. It discusses the socioeconomic status such as class variation in the society(Luhmann, Baecker&Gilgen, 2013). The lesser the variation in social class experiences the better the health outcomes in society. In sociology, the quantitative and the qualitative approaches play a demanding role in the health system(Luhmann, Baecker&Gilgen, 2013). The social world is also subjected to objective and subjective reality(Dunphy, 2014). The importance of social and behavioural factors in a sociological approach to health illness is central. The role of sociology in health remains in evaluating those components of society affecting health at a larger level(Cohn, 2014). Its evaluation demonstrates why there are inequalities in the health sector and what sustains them(Luhmann, Baecker&Gilgen, 2013). It further reveals the mechanisms to help in minimizing the inequalities. Hence its main role is to change and improve the health system. The essay will discuss two sociological theories, conflict and feminism theory and their implications on the Australian health care system. It will also focus on hierarchy and power and how the theories differ from the biomedical model.
Nurses go through a lot of human interactions(Denny, Earle &Hewison, 2016). This way they encounter different behaviours in people and therefore, learning sociology as a subject is important. It helps one become successful in nursing and be able to provide care to different patients and genuinely perform correct diagnoses. This is because they understand their different behaviours and the way they react. It also gives them an understanding of their responsibility socially as they not only treat the illness but improve the quality of life to patients(Giger, 2016).
Being one of the best in the world provides quality care which is safe and affordable. When it comes to the running of the system federal, state and territory governments share the responsibilities(Levinson et al., 2014)(Mason, 2013). The Australian federal government is responsible for; the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), funding hospitals operated by state and territories, supporting the medical research sector with funding, coordinating the national response to emergencies, funding programs for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders health, funding primary level mental health services, subsidizing and regulating aged care services and funding a range of population health programs and campaigns. State and territories manage and jointly fund public hospitals, public dental clinics, foods safety and handling regulation, ambulance services, community health services, community health services, delivering preventive services such as breast cancer screening and immunisation programs and monitoring health premises(Levinson et al., 2014).
Karl Marx developed the theory. It argues that a society is a complicated system striving for competition and not to be at equilibrium(Luhmann, Baecker&Gilgen, 2013). That is, a society is made of people who are competing for limited resources. The resources here can be sexual partners, money, leisure, and luxuries(Glaser & Strauss, 2017). There is also a competition for organisations and social structures such as government and religion depicts the competition for resources in their deep-rooted inequalities in the field of economics, healthcare, and education(Caselli& Coleman, 2013). Some people and other organizations have more resources which they use to influence and maintain their positions of power in the society while suppressing the poor and powerless.
Two Sociological Theories: Conflict and Feminism Theory
This theory counters the structural-functionalist theory which argues that the society is at equilibrium regarding stability while forgoing the social changes that occur(Stephan & Stephan, 2013). For conflict theory, the society is ever fighting for the limited resources. Hence it’s ideal for explaining the social changes and the conflict that exists between classes(Caselli& Coleman, 2013). The classes here represent those members in the society that have more wealth and means and the working class who are considered as poor.
In all social relationships, there is a competition over scarce resources. All human relationships competition is evident rather than a consensus.
Biases in power and the rewards are bred into the social structures. Those that benefit from those social structures always strive to ensure that it is maintained(Luhmann, Baecker&Gilgen, 2013).
The change that occurs is as a result of conflict between the interests of the competitors rather than adaptation. The change is usually hasty in changing other than being metamorphic.
The transfer of some of the hospitals from the public to the private sector running makes it no different from other businesses. Success is through measures like capital resources, good organization of human resources, effective marketing, and staff(Alonso, Clifton &Díaz-Fuentes, 2016). The privatization of hospitals in Australia saw self-interest replace the good work, service and professionalism to the community. The idea of profit threatens the professionalism and the quality of service. Humanitarian services create most conflict. Allowing monopoly to a drug company where it charges whatever money it can even through force to someone makes little or no sense(Gleeson, Moir&Lopert, 2015). This makes them mislead nurses and the public about its safety and effectiveness the drug. Privatization of public hospitals is risking the nurses’ professional duties which have a great negative impact on the healthcare. Nurse- to- patient ratio is half the number required(Alonso, Clifton &Díaz-Fuentes, 2016). This means that even employment to them is not based on merit in these hospitals. For example, a case of a nurse treating a patient using scripts on paper. No policies or protocols procedures observed. The risk and fear of losing a job make them also put up with whatever happens since the employer is private.
Medical dominance creates structural barriers between nurses and doctors. Doctors are highly satisfied with more control over procedures and delivery in the healthcare(Chong, Aslani& Chen, 2013). Their profession is considered more powerful and of higher status by the public than nursing. This makes nurses dissatisfied with their professional status concerning their working environment(Schadewaldt, McInnes, Hiller, & Gardner, 2016).
There are a set of ideas that approves the status quo in the society. According to Marx, hierarchy refers to the haves, and the have- not. The powerful in the society use their position to stay at the top in the society at the expense of oppressing the poor(Anthias, 2013). They also influence other institution, law, and the media to maintain the class structure. They suppress any chance that the poor can challenge it by trying to approve the orders that exist. Their main aim is to abhor the poor from attaining the class awareness of their abuse and the real reasons for it hence suffer false awareness(Lowe, Plummer & Boyd, 2013). Either it is important in that it helps the poor realize that they can get themselves out of poverty if they work hard enough. The implication is that if people remain poor, they are not working hard enough to get themselves out of poverty or have other reasons keeping them in poverty state(Anthias, 2013).
Hierarchy and Power in Australian Healthcare System
When it comes to placing of hospital staffs, it follows a strict hierarchical structure. It consists of senior medical doctors, visiting medical officers, registrars, principal house officer, resident medical officers, senior house officer, junior house officer and intern. Senior medical officers are the topmost in the structure and have subdivisions of general practitioners, staff specialists and career hospital doctors. Visiting medical officers consult at private or public hospitals on a part-time basis. The registrars are the doctor’s accepted the prior nomination in college with a clinical speciality. Principle house officers are those currently in their fourth year of post-graduation studies. They are medical practitioners. Resident medical officers consist of senior house officer who are in their third year of post-graduation, junior house officers who are in their second year of post- graduation studies and an intern who is in the first year of post-graduation and don’t have a lot of responsibilities regarding treatment of patients(Morrow, Gustavson, & Jones, 2016).
Nurses are always performing orders and directions from physicians and hospital management(Chong, Aslani& Chen, 2013). Many times also nurses step back to let medical interns perform various tasks in which they are also experts. Patients are also admitted in hospitals under surgeons or physician’s name, yet the maintenance and safety of the patient are solely left to the nurses. Nurses remain invisible shadows when it comes to healthcare hierarchy(Rodwell, Demir, & Flower, 2013). Nurses in Australia are expected to be in uniform always while doctors and medical students attend to patients wearing anything. This dehumanizes the nurse and supports inequality in the healthcare hierarchy(Schadewaldt, McInnes, Hiller, & Gardner, 2016).
The theory highlights that power is settled in the hands of a few wealthy people and some organizations in the democratic society. They use it to influence the government of the day by shaping its decisions to benefit their interests(Luhmann, Baecker&Gilgen, 2013). Members in power see each other socially and also serve together in organizations, corporations, and other bodies. This control helps maintain their influence. Either the government does not always take the side of the ruling, but at times it opposes them. The theory helps ensure the legitimacy.
The structure of the Australian health system poses challenges in achieving the collaborative delivery of services. There is a lack of integration in various initiatives by the two levels of government. The health professionals in the primary health sector work in private and public sector under different funding. Health professionals in private practice get their fund on a fee- for- service basis while those in the public sector through block funding. Hence collaboration becomes difficult due to few opportunities for personal relationships through communication.
Biomedical health terms health as biological and norm and terms the body as a machine where the ill health associated with it is as a result of dysfunction(Glaser & Strauss, 2017). It also states that diseases emanate from bacteria, viruses, genetics, and trauma(Krieger, 2014). To identify ill health, diagnosis of signs and symptoms has to be carried out. Their knowledge is based on facts which make biomedical knowledge superior to other sciences(Baum & Fisher, 2014). It also notes that individuals play no part in restoring the body to health. There is also no consideration of social factor contributing to ill health.
Implications of Conflict Theory on Australian Healthcare System
The theory points out the inequality in the quality of health and health care services. The inequalities are along social class, gender, race, and ethnicity. People coming from disadvantaged social backgrounds are more likely to fall sick and after that since the healthcare is inadequate to make it impossible for them to recover. This is as a result of disparities in the healthcare(Krieger, 2014). It also says that physicians increase their incomes by controlling the medical practice and seeing social problems as medical problems.
Earlier on women were ignored and silenced in by the scientific communities of their time due to sexism, racism, and heterosexism(Ritzer&Stepnisky, 2017). Feminist scholars are continuing to expand their scientific knowledge across all disciplines and countering the initial assumptions(Ritzer&Stepnisky, 2017). Their main aim is to have a just social world. The theory has three foundational ideas; scientific practice is subjective, the personal is political, and everything is more than one thing(Stephan & Stephan, 2013).
In subjective scientific practice, feminist argue that as long as people are the ones doing research, it will be subjective to open debate at some level(Glaser & Strauss, 2017). In the personal is political, they argue that to change the oppression systems requires to view how people feel, think, and act in all manner of life which will affect the social and the natural world experience(Cho, Crenshaw & McCall, 2013). Everything is more than one thing; it argues that social and natural cannot only be understood by controlling the various parts of social and natural experience but rather attend to the whole structure, system, and entity about others of the same in the world and at the same time.
In sociology, it is a conflict theory with its perspectives focusing on gender and relation to power, all at the level of interaction and flexibility in a social structure. This includes race, sexual orientation, nationality, and economic status(Dill &Zinn, 2016).
Its assumptions are; gender theory involves politics of inequality, men and women think differently in nature, societies are organized by gender principle, and gender is termed as a social construction.
Its assumptions are; gender theory involves politics of inequality, men and women think differently in nature, societies are organized by gender principle, and gender is termed as a social construction(Dill &Zinn, 2016).
Women rarely go up to the top of social hierarchies due to bumping on unstated boundaries which keep them from achieving the higher positions of power. Even in legislative areas, women tend to hold lesser positions at the bottom(Stephan & Stephan, 2013). They tend to maintain their secondary status in the society. Hierarchy helps people view other humans as equals which exist on a scale(Stephan & Stephan, 2013).
Most nurses in the healthcare are women with 89%. However, they occupy a less privileged position in the healthcare. They also earn less and fail to further their studies. The male nurses go contrary to all these and hence occupy higher management positions. They also speak less compared to men. Women bullying each other express their frustration on the limited access to the patriarchy due to sexism (Bismark et al., 2015).
Implications of Feminism Theory on Australian Healthcare System
The view of power by the feminist is simple. They believe that it is unequally and unjustly directed to men in the society(Stanley, 2013). This has resulted in discrimination of women, where men use it to oppress women and control their lives. Feminist divide the power men have over women into public and private sphere(Cho Crenshaw & McCall, 2013). They note in the public sphere which involves politics, and workplace power is becoming equal. In the private sphere, inequalities are still there. This is regarding the family matters where women are at the core, and this has contributed in affecting their power publicly. The theory has helped women in understanding power and how to tackle gender inequalities(Stanley, 2013).
Gender perceptions by the society have silenced women nurses who are the majority in the profession. They don’t have great influence on policymaking and management decisions (Bismark et al., 2015).
The theory highlights that in the field of medicine, the powerful professional areas in it are dominated by men(Stanley, 2013). It highlights further that health policies are also made by a parliament that is male-dominated(Harris et al., 2016). As a result of this, doctors may view women as neurotic and unbalanced emotionally and point their social problems to the difference in biology compared to that of men(Krieger, 2014). The doctors also point out that key elements in a woman’s life are motherhood and maternal instincts. Any denial of the instincts causes ill health or depression(Baum & Fisher, 2014).
Interns and medical students are at the lowest level in the hierarchy when it comes to medical hierarchy(Schön, 2017). They depend on other clinicians for learning and instructions(Lowe, Plummer & Boyd, 2013). For them to go higher in the hierarchy, the report from their supervisors should be favourable regarding their professional development, key competencies, and their performance(Cohn, 2014). Aware of this, they try to maintain good relations with their supervisors at the expense of their priorities in health care(Schön, 2017). Disclosing mistakes or trying to correct the supervisor may have adverse effects to the intern or student(Krieger, 2014). That is the report can be bad, which will reduce the chances of being employed or slim chances for training programs.
When it comes to power, those up in the ladder have more power compared to the interns and students (Harris et al., 2016). This inequality in power makes them develop fear and keep silent to the matters requiring them to open up. Trying to highlight a problem or contradicting the decisions made by seniors can cause trouble.
Conclusion
Sociology enables people to see the world we live in a socially built. This makes people interact regardless of their race, social status, economic status, families and take charge of their lives. Health sociology focuses on how social life affects the mortality rate and morbidity. When it comes to health and illnesses, sociologists attribute to the socioeconomic status of a person, ethnicity and other cultural factors. Sociology provides a mindset of understanding different cultural backgrounds, behaviour and their norms. Health personnel in health care should promote health and welfare equally. Social resources in the society should also be fairly distributed without discrimination to ensure equal access by all the members of the society. This will reduce the margin between the poor and the rich and foster equal rights to all its citizens. Women should also participate fully in all aspects of the society from economic, reproductive, sexual, voting rights and ownership of properties. The society is also in a vicious cycle of conflicts from education, power, gender, colour, religion, and nationality.
Challenges in Privatization of Australian Healthcare System
References
Alonso, J. M., Clifton, J., &Díaz-Fuentes, D. (2016). Public-private partnerships for hospitals: Does privatization affect employment?. Journal of Strategic Contracting and Negotiation, 2(4), 313-325.
Aneshensel, C. S., Phelan, J. C., &Bierman, A. (2013). The sociology of mental health: Surveying the field. In Handbook of the sociology of mental health (pp. 1-19).Springer, Dordrecht.
Anthias, F. (2013). Hierarchies of social location, class and intersectionality: Towards a translocational frame. International Sociology, 28(1), 121-138.
Barrow, M., McKimm, J., Gasquoine, S., & Rowe, D. (2015). Collaborating in healthcare delivery: exploring conceptual differences at the “bedside”. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 29(2), 119-124.
Baum, F., & Fisher, M. (2014). Why behavioural health promotion endures despite its failure to reduce health inequities. Sociology of health & illness, 36(2), 213-225.
Bismark, M., Morris, J., Thomas, L., Loh, E., Phelps, G., & Dickinson, H. (2015). Reasons and remedies for under-representation of women in medical leadership roles: a qualitative study from Australia. BMJ Open, 5(11), e009384.
Caselli, F., & Coleman, W. J. (2013).On the theory of ethnic conflict. Journal of the European Economic Association, 11(suppl_1), 161-192.
Cohn, S. (2014). From health behaviours to health practices: an introduction. Sociology of health & illness, 36(2), 157-162.
Cho, S., Crenshaw, K. W., & McCall, L. (2013). Toward a field of intersectionality studies: Theory, applications, and praxis. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 38(4), 785-810.
Chong, W. W., Aslani, P., & Chen, T. F. (2013).Shared decision-making and interprofessional collaboration in mental health care: a qualitative study exploring perceptions of barriers and facilitators. Journal of interprofessional care, 27(5), 373-379.
Denny, E., Earle, S., &Hewison, A. (Eds.). (2016). Sociology for nurses.John Wiley & Sons.
Dill, B. T., &Zinn, M. B. (2016).Theorising difference from multiracial feminism. In Race, Gender and Class (pp. 76-82). Routledge.
Dunphy, J. L. (2014). Healthcare professionals’ perspectives on environmental sustainability. Nursing Ethics, 21(4), 414-425.
Giger, J. N. (2016). Transcultural Nursing-E-Book: Assessment and Intervention. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (2017). Discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Routledge.
Gleeson, D. H., Moir, H., &Lopert, R. (2015). Costs to Australian taxpayers of pharmaceutical monopolies and proposals to extend them in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The Medical Journal of Australia, 202(6), 306-308.
Harris, M. F., Advocate, J., Crabtree, B. F., Levesque, J. F., Miller, W. L., Gunn, J. M., …& Russell, G. M. (2016). Interprofessional teamwork innovations for primary health care practices and practitioners: evidence from a comparison of reform in three countries. Journal of multidisciplinary health care, 9, 35.
Krieger, N. (2014). Got Theory? On the 21 st c. CE Rise of Explicit use of Epidemiologic Theories of Disease Distribution: A Review and Ecosocial Analysis. Current Epidemiology Reports, 1(1), 45-56.
Levinson, W., Kallewaard, M., Bhatia, R. S., Wolfson, D., Shortt, S., & Kerr, E. A. (2014). ‘Choosing Wisely’: a growing international campaign. BMJ QualSaf, BMJ’s-2014.
Lowe, G., Plummer, V., & Boyd, L. (2013).Nurse practitioner roles in Australian health care settings. Nursing Management, 20(2).
Luhmann, N., Baecker, D., &Gilgen, P. (2013). Introduction to systems theory. Cambridge: Polity.
Mason, J. (2013). Review of Australian government health workforce programs.
Morrow, K. J., Gustavson, A. M., & Jones, J. (2016).Speaking up behaviours (safety voices) of healthcare workers: A meta-synthesis of qualitative research studies. International Journal of nursing studies, 64, 42-51.
Ritzer, G., &Stepnisky, J. (2017). Modern sociological theory.SAGE Publications.
Rodwell, J., Demir, D., & Flower, R. L. (2013). The oppressive nature of work in healthcare: predictors of aggression against nurses and administrative staff. Journal of Nursing Management, 21(6), 888-897.
Schadewaldt, V., McInnes, E., Hiller, J. E., & Gardner, A. (2016).Experiences of nurse practitioners and medical practitioners working in collaborative practice models in primary health care in Australia–a multiple case study using mixed methods. BMC family practice, 17(1), 99.
Schön, D. A. (2017). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Routledge.
Stanley, L. (2013). Feminist praxis (RLE feminist theory): Research, theory and epistemology in feminist sociology. Routledge.
Stephan, C. W., & Stephan, W. S. (2013).An integrated threat theory of prejudice. In Reducing prejudice and discrimination(pp. 33-56). Psychology Press.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
