Med Soc 343 - Final paper PDF

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Taught by Prof. Linda Francis. Final paper...

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SOC 343 Dr. Linda Francis Prejudice and Health An individual’s race, religion, economic status, educational background, etc., are all social factors that determine their susceptibility to illness and disease. This goes to show that a person’s risk of sickness does not only depend on genetics, heritability, and personal choices (such as smoking and drinking) but social and cultural environment as well. Syrian immigrants, Marwan and Almira Ahmadi, brought their family to the United States shortly after the civil war outbreak happening in their homeland. By leaving their war-town country, it is easy to believe that they have also left most of their burdens behind, but unfortunately that is not the case. In America, the Ahmadis will have to face different challenges and learn to adjust to a new lifestyle and cultural differences, not to mention potential racial discrimination and prejudices that they will most likely encounter. These factors negatively impact one’s health simply because of social ignorance and bias. Almira speaks broken English and has trouble communicating with others outside of her family because of the language barrier. None of the family members currently have legal documentation. Due to their situation, she works under-the-table as a seamstress for other immigrant families as well as nannies for three children while their parents are at work. Almira has scars and burn marks on the entire right side of her body due to a bombing that destroyed her village back home. These injuries cause her some discomfort and inconvenience, making her job even more difficult from time to time. She sometimes suffers from joint pain and numbness in her right arm as well.

Her husband, Marwan, works with his brother Houmann who is already an American citizen. Houmann owns a small contracting business in Cuyahoga County and has hired Marwan to work for him. Marwan’s job title is a landscaper, mainly for homes and occasionally public areas such as shopping malls, hotels, and office buildings. Unfortunately, the business mainly peaks during the warmer seasons and commonly undergoes a decline during the colder months. Houmann’s business has also been experiencing competition with other contracting companies, causing many of his employees to be laid off. They have noticed a rapid decline of customers and even those who have been with the company for years have decided to take their business elsewhere even though Houmann charges much less in comparison to other rivals. As a result, Marwan has not been able to take much money home to his family. With three children all under the age of 10, they do not make enough to provide proper support. The couple has made the decision that since Marwan only works a few days a week, that he will be the one watching over the children while Almira goes to work. The Ahmadi children all have some form of disability. Their first born, Haya, is seven years old with asthma and vulnerability towards respiratory infection. The second child, five-year old Tarek, suffers from post-traumatic-stress disorder. The explosions have resulted in nightmares and a fear of loud and sudden noises. Elias, the youngest at age two, was born prematurely and has cerebral palsy. He is significantly smaller compared to other children his age and has difficulty moving his muscles. His parents attribute his disorder to Almira’s stress during pregnancy and inhaling environmental toxins as a result of the bombings. Almira and Marwan barely make enough money to cover basic necessities and do not have any money to get medical attention. Almira

decides to take up another job as a housekeeper and hopes to make enough income to cover housing and food expenses as well medical treatment for their children since her husband is the one currently staying home the most. Almira knows that working a third job will be even more detrimental to her health. By suppressing her own symptoms, she is putting her body at risk. Due to the high expense of medicine and treatment, Almira believes that the only way her family will receive the help they need is if she takes in another set of income. Almira will be exposed to many new bacterias and viruses at her new job at the hotel. There are no requirements saying that housekeepers must be vaccinated, but Almira has no history of immunization, making her more prone to infection. According to The Sociology of Health, Illness, and Healthcare: A Critical Approach, on page 37, without vaccination, an individual with an already weakened immune system has a high chance of contracting infectious germs. It also states that those with good health care will most likely get the proper medical attention. Prior to having good health care, a person must be financially stable. Almira’s risk of having a premature death reflects social issues because the healthcare system first prioritizes the demands of those who can afford to pay their medical expenses while putting the needs of the poor below their attention. The Ahmadis fall in the low SES range without medical insurance. The Ahmadis live in Bedford Heights, one of Cleveland’s poorest suburbs. The working class falls victim to an unfair society and are statistically proven to have the worst health due to living conditions and lack of money. People who do not have money often find themselves more stressed in comparison to those in higher classes. Because Almira and her family do not have health care, they have little to no resources for

treatment. They cannot be granted aid nor any type of service and will be denied access to preventative care. Social class affects health due to the social causation regarding a person’s rank to the likeliness of illness development. Almira and Marwan make very low income, therefore, do not have enough money to pay for doctor visits or pay for medicine. For the past few weeks, the Ahmadis have been eating mostly microwaveable meals from dollar stores. A poor nutritional diet can contribute to the risk of many illnesses. On page 118 of “Greater Equality: The Hidden Key to Better Health and Higher Scores” by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, an editor from the British Medical Journal confirmed a link between income and health, and explained that “the more equally wealth is distributed the better the health of that society”. The United States’ obsession with admiring the rich and shunning the poor causes a social distortion. The wealthy are given more benefits due to high status and poor individuals and families are only forced to work harder to keep up with economic standards. Being a newly immigrated working class Middle-Eastern woman, Almira has faced prejudices that have made her feel as if she was not in control of her situation. Because she works under-the-table for all three of her jobs, she cannot complain about working conditions for fear of being reported or fired. Back in Syria, she was not able to continue her high school education because her parents did not have the money to pay for her schooling, therefore, Almira could not to go to college to attain a degree, which would be a beneficial quality when trying to apply for a career or higher paying job. Working odd jobs is currently her only option. There have also been times when she has considered not wearing her hijab due to the various levels of racism she has experienced—from unwelcoming stares to even being denied of customer service. On

page 211 of “Stress, Health, and the Life Course: Some Conceptual Perspectives” by Pearlin, Schieman, Fazio, and Meersman, it states, “[…] connections among traumas might also come about because exposure to one trauma puts people at risk for exposure of another”. Secondary stressors may even be more hazardous than the first. Not only does Almira suffer from financial strain and family stress, she faces racial discrimination that affects her daily life. The Health Belief Model falls short of providing a sociological explanation to Almira’s risk because although it identifies social factors and perceives susceptibility to illness, it primarily focuses on changing her behavior while using her own misfortune as a way to blame her for her outcome. This theory does not take into consideration how environmental factors can influence behavior and life choices. Almira is aware that her family’s situation is serious and are even more likely to contract sicknesses that will prolong their troubles. The Ahmadis have not yet completed all legal paperwork and although they may buy health insurance, they have limited options. Almira wants to bring her daughter Haya to a doctor because she has been having a bad cough that has affected her asthma but is afraid that she will not have enough to cover her other children. As a substitute, a pharmacist recommends an alternative—an over-the-counter cough suppressant that will repress Haya’s symptoms. Due to tightness on money and it being more affordable than seeing a physician, she makes the purchase. Increasing medical treatment is not the best method for improving our nation’s health because care costs would skyrocket. According to the “Greater Equality: The Hidden Key to Better Health and High Scores”, written by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, health and social issues are common in countries with a large gap in income

inequality. To improve health population, the socioeconomic ranking system must be eliminated. Research shows that an egalitarian society would improve the quality of life. There is a positive correlation between inequality and the rate of morbidity and mortality as well as other factors such as low birth weight, shorter stature, poorer health, sexually transmitted diseases, obesity, imprisonment, drug and alcohol addiction, depression, and poverty. Because Almira is a minority in the lower working class, she would have an exceptionally harder time getting the treatment she needs compared to whites, especially to those that fall in the middle to higher economic rank. On page 425 of “The Questionable Contribution of Medical Measures to the Decline of Mortality in the” by John B. McKinlay and Sonja M. McKinlay, it concludes that medical measures barely contribute to the decline of mortality in the United States. Due to the uneven distribution of wealth and health care, those in the lower class rank would still be left unfavored. Evidence declare that the 1970s civil rights movement led to improvements in health and socioeconomic status across the nation. To elaborate on this issue, rather than having favoritism over the rich and discriminating the poor, the predominant well-being of America and those living here would increase if all people were given equal chances and benefits. Inequality is shown to cause communities to cripple, lowers trust, and urges violence. After Almira has taken a job as a housekeeper, she has been experiencing symptoms of depression. She has had a hard time getting along with other employees because she cannot speak English very well. One day, she overheard one of her coworkers say that she does not feel comfortable working with Almira because she is a Muslim. Upon hearing this, Almira felt victimized and humiliated. In “Miles to Go Before

We Sleep: Racial Inequalities in Health” by David R. Williams, he states that internalized racism can significantly impact one’s health. Studies suggest that those facing discrimination are more likely to suffer from poor sleeping patterns, sexual problems, and violence as well as having higher risk of developing certain diseases like subclinical carotid artery disease, fibroids, and coronary artery calcification. There is also an increase in mental disorders such as depression, conduct disorder, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and hyperactivity. Segregated individuals are also more likely to push off or avoid seeking medical help, fail continuous treatment, and/or ignore regular doctor check-ups. According to Vivienne Walters, on page 3 and 4 of “The Social Context of Women’s Health”, socio-economic determinants of poor health include “unemployment, poverty, [minimum] benefit levels, [poor] housing conditions, [low] food security, [poor] living conditions, and regional disparities. Populations at a particularly high risk of these deprivations include women and racial and ethnic minorities. She has been having extreme fatigue and agitation. Marwan has even noticed that she has been losing a significant amount of weight. Without proper nutrition and an insufficient amount of sleep, he is worried that Almira will start to fall ill. Almira assures her husband that she will be fine and continues with working long hours. In societies all around the world, mental illness such as depression are disregarded as an actual illness. In simpler terms, many people throw depression under the rug. Many of those with depression are often too embarrassed to admit their mental disorder for fear of social judgement. For Almira, depression does not confer a moral status. From a sociological perspective, depressed individuals are believed to be “broken” if they do not meet social norms of ability, appearance, or behavior. The social construction of illness

recognizes health problems exist. Physical illnesses may be easier to understand while mental illness are considered to be more abstract. As said by the National Research Council Committee on Risk Perception and Communication, risk is considered a moral danger due to the probability of potentially occurring harm. In relation to public health, Deborah Lupton argues that patients are often blamed for their own illness—“to displace the real reasons for ill-health upon the individual, and to express outrage deemed socially unacceptable” (Lupton, 425). Society often correlates an individual’s life choices to their life chances. Now that Almira is overworked and experiencing signs of depression as well as financial/health problems with herself and her family, she may be accused of putting herself in that situation. Because the Ahmadis are not financially stable, one might question their fundamental right of why they chose to have three children if they knew ahead of time that they would be struggling to afford to keep up with the expenses—in which case, it may also be argued that Almira’s depression could have inherently been “avoidable”. Manufacturers of illnesses are groups promoting illness-causing behaviors and social conditions. As said previously, Almira purchased an over-the-counter medicine used to suppress Haya’s coughing. Cough suppressants do not actually aid the body in getting rid of the cough but rather subsiding the symptoms. Pharmaceutical and overthe-counter drug companies do this so customers continue to buy their products. Similarly, if Almira was able to purchase an antidepressant, she may experience other side effects such as insomnia, nausea, and even thoughts of suicide. Antidepressants are revealed not to actually cure depression but treat stress instead. This is a pharmaceutical tactic used to make the patient dependent on the drug, making them

believe it is doing what doctors and physicians had informed them it would do. The longer a patient sticks with their medical treatment, the longer the healthcare industry will be keeping them as a “customer”. Medicalization is a term used to define a problem from a medical aspect, usually dissected into an illness or disorder, and using medical intervention as a way of treatment. Medicalization encourages deeper research, public awareness over the issue, and decreases stigma. On page 139 of Alessandro Bonanno and Bita Esmaeli’s article “Facial Disfigurement, Stigma, and Cancer: Interaction Between Patients and Members of Secondary Groups”, it states that stigma is considered a “disgrace” and primarily highlights the person’s non-ideal quality. However, doctors are given more superiority while other social authorities are given less credit. Although many mental illnesses, such as depression, are considered complicated and controversial, nowadays there are more studies being done to finding better treatment. Depression would not be considered a contested illness because doctors are generally aware of its overall symptoms, although there may be some factors and causes of depression that have not yet been researched. In Phil Brown’s “Naming and Framing”, he explains that diagnosis is used to study illness and how it is socially constructed into medicine. In Brown’s typology, Almira’s depression would best fall under the medicalized definition category. Depression is a mental disability that may become chronic depending on the individual’s situation. Almira’s husband has noticed a difference in her physical appearance, but Amira promises Marwan it is because she has been constantly busy. On page 132 of “We Don’t Wear It On Our Sleeve” by Rebekah M. Ciribassi and Crystal L. Patil, systematic invisibility is society’s lack of representation towards certain issues.

By unacknowledging these problems, those with depression, such as Almira, will feel as if having a mental illness should be something to hide. Rather than focusing on ways to fix the situation, many social services mainly focus on the problem. By concealing these emotional feelings and physical symptoms, she will most likely make her personal matters worst, leading to chronicity. Almira’s situation makes it very hard for her to receive help. As a wife and mother, she refuses to let her family suffer, subsequently putting her own self at an even worse risk for bad health. Prejudicial views can cause others to live a low quality of life, keeping them away from healthy living conditions. These issues turn into a ripple effect. Discrimination is used to justify a person’s self worth, causing many minorities, such as the Ahmadis, to experience and live with unfair treatment which is incredibly difficult to get out of.

Work Cited Bonanno, Alessandro. Esmaeli, Bita. (No Date). Facial Disfigurement, Stigma, and Cancer. Taylor & Francis Group. Texas.

Brown, Phil. No Date. Naming and Framing: The Social Construction of Diagnosis and Illness. No Place of Publication. Boston University.

Ciribassi, Rebekah M. Patil. Crystal L. (2015). We Don’t Wear It On Our Sleeve. Cornell Univeristy. No Place of Publication.

Fazio, Elena M. Meersman, Stephen C. Pearlin, Leonard I. Schieman, Scott. (2005) Stress, Health, and the Life Course: Some Conceptual Perspectives. No Place of Publication. No Place of Location.

Lupton, Deborah. (1993). Risk as Moral Danger: The Social and Political Functions of Risk Discourse in Public Health. Baywood Publishing Co. No Place of Location.

McKinlay, John B., McKinlay Sonja M., (1977). The Questionable Contribution of Medical Measures to the Decline of Mortality in the United States in the Twenieth Century. No Place of Publication. Boston.

Picket, Kate. Wilkinson, Richard. (2010). Greater Equality: The Hidden Key to Better Health and Higher Scores. Bloomsbury Press. No Place of Location.

Walters, Vivienne. (2004). The Social Context of Women’s Health. No Place of Publication. University of Wales Swansea.

Weitz, Rose. (2012). The Sociology of Health, Illness and Healthcare: A Critical Approach, 6th Edition. Boston: Wadsworth.

Williams, D. R., (2012). Miles To Go Before We Sleep: Racial Inequities in Health. No Place of Publication. No Place of Location....