Module 1.5 - What is Anthropology and Medical Anthropology Part 2 PDF

Preview

Summary

Discussion Post...

Description

1. How would each component of the barrel model of culture relate to the spread and treatment of a particular disease? It may be helpful to think of a specific disease such as Zika, Covid-19, Swine Flu, etc. In the barrel model of culture, there is environment, infrastructure, social structure, and superstructure. In the case of the environment, this component includes the availability of resources to a society. It can dictate the resources that are readily available for use in the treatment of a particular disease. For example, if a vaccine needed to be made, the resources in the environment can dictate whether or not the vaccine would be produced or effective. In the case of infrastructure, economics and technology can determine the treatment of a particular disease. For example, following the scenario from earlier, trading in the economy can provide the society with resources that are not found in their own environment that can help make a more effective vaccine. It can also provide them with better technology to help manage the disease better. In the case of social structure, such as political organization, it dictates how well a society can handle distribution of treatment. If there is a government in the society, they can reinforce treatment as a requirement. Lastly, there is the component of superstructure, which includes worldview or belief systems. This can impact how individuals in the society interact with each other and how they receive reinforcement from the social structure component. If the government has a poorly functioning power structure, this can affect how well individuals will perceive the disease. For example, there may be resistance to treatment, or the belief that the disease is fabricated. 2. Of the three sociological perspectives (conflict theory, structural functionalism, and symbolic interactionism), which do you think is the most useful approach to understanding disease and why? Include the definition of the approach you chose in your response? Out of the three sociological perspectives, I think symbolic interactionism is the most useful approach to understanding disease. Symbolic interactionism is the perspective that views individuals of a society as actively shaping the society rather than being shaped by society. It takes into account how people communicate and behave around other individuals. Personally I think that symbolic interactionism is the most useful approach because firstly, it examines society and individuals at the micro level. This creates a more concrete understanding since it takes into account one-on-one interactions. This can help better understand why an individual has a certain disease, whether it be their environment, who they are interacting with, or how they react to certain situations. Depending on the disease, it can help magnify issues on how a person chooses to deal with situations that they encounter. The method in which they choose to handle the situation can be the underlying factor to the disease. 3. Describe the interaction of culture and evolution. How can cultural behavior affect biological evolution? Be sure to discuss this in terms of the video you watched (i.e. talk about lactase)

In terms of lactase, cultural behavior is an important factor to biological evolution. In the video, historical groups of people that domesticated animals were found to be lactase persistent. Milk was an important resource for these cultures. It was theorized that lactose intolerance was detrimental in the case of famine because it was the only food available if your crops failed. Due to the cultural behavior of these groups of people, lactose intolerance was naturally selected out of the population. In conclusion, the cultural behavior of the consumption of milk caused the biological evolution of lactase persistence. 4. Adaptations occur when a behavior or gene(s) provide a selective advantage in our ability to survive and/or reproduce. Describe one original example of how a present-day behavior may affect our biological evolution. Explain how this behavior directly can impact our ability to survive or reproduce. The COVID-19 virus has been accountable for many deaths since it became a pandemic. Theory would suggest that those who are more conscious of their health in terms of washing their hands and avoiding exposure to potentially illness-inducing microbes are probably less likely to become sick and die of disease. Their motivation to avoid these microbes can be seen as a phenotype that will increase their ability to survive and reproduce compared to those who are less anxious about their exposure to harmful germs. It is very possible that this “germophobic” phenotype is the consequence of a gene or multiple genes. Therefore, if these people survive more often (especially during pandemics like the COVID-19 pandemic), then they will pass on the genes that code for this phenotype....