SOSC 1801 Final Exam
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School
York University *
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Course
1801
Subject
Medicine
Date
Apr 3, 2024
Type
Pages
7
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Bonus Questions:
Harry Styles and the song she hates is As It Was
1.
Patient Activism
Definition (3 marks):
-
Patient activism refers to a group of people or activist patients that challenge the
medical establishment and cultural mainstream of how their situation is defined,
nature of medical practice and treatment, and how their illness is dealt with in
everyday life
-
Activist patients are often labeled as bad patients because they problematize and go
against institutional power and the use of technology and pharmaceutical research
funding
-
Work hard to redefine their illness, disease, condition, or disability and aim to change
the way they are labelled by the medical institution
-
Patient activism refers to the actions taken by patients or their advocates, like
caregivers, to bring about changes in healthcare policies, practices, and research. It
involves advocating for the rights of patients and promoting their interests, often
through organized campaigns or social movements.
Significance (7 marks):
-
Activist patients help promote vaccine equity by advocating for access to vaccines for
marginalized populations during COVID-19
-
Patient Activist redefine disability by discarding the medical model
-
Patient Activists fight against social marginalization and help disabled people feel
comfortable to bring their ‘imperfect’ body into the public world
-
Breast Cancer Activism organizations started in early 1990s and links to women’s
movement and AID activism
-
Patient activist groups and the pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical companies
create links with patient activist communities to present themselves as defenders of
patient rights in their campaigns to attract consumers.
-
The rise of technologies and social media is beneficial to patient activists as it widens
their platform and generates awareness and funds for their cause.
-
Activist patients can reduce the stigma around abortion and can promote a more
supportive approach to reproductive healthcare. They can work to oppose restrictive
abortion laws that limit access to abortion services. They go against abortion laws.
-
Patient Activism relates to Gender vs Sex as the medicalizations of transgender and
intersex people are causing more harm than good and intersex activist groups are
protesting to end such harmful surgeries
2.
Cultural Proselytization & Mental Health
Definition (3 marks):
-
Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his
or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively
and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community
-
Cultural proselytization is where these different groups of young people need very
specific targeted intervention to help them to help deal with the lack of resources, the
special circumstances, the social determinants of health that contribute to the poor
mental health outcomes in our communities, and cultural proselytize is basically a
system of the Western worlds sort of take over of culture and this Eurocentric sort of
definition of what is good mental health and what is normal behaviour, what our
normal stresses and what is a fruitful and productive life. That definition is so very
deeply rooted in western Eurocentric definitions of the good life, and what it means to
be a productive citizen, and what it means to have good mental health. Cultural
proselytization is the taking over and imposing particular views of what it means to be
healthy and what it means to be productive but it doesn't give any space for the very
particular considerations of very vulnerable and marginalized groups in our
communities. And unless we have a very targeted culturally sensitive response to our
most vulnerable youth communities we won't see a big dent in this issue.
Significance (7 marks):
-
Social Comparison Theory which is where people seek to compare themselves to
others they believe are similar to themselves, particularly to determine their own
levels of abilities and success
-
Scripts and knowledge structures allows an individual to organize information about
how to behave in certain situations
-
Social Learning Theory occurs through direct experience and observing the
behaviour of others. It is learning aggression through modeling
-
Social media usage can lead to negative consequences such as body surveillance,
sexual exploitation, narcissism and poor life satisfaction
-
Body surveillance is where they constantly assess the extent to which their external
appearance conforms to culturally valued ideals
-
Health and sport relates as male have endured eating disorders to look a certain way
to play
-
Also relates to racism and medicine as children of racialized groups and marginalized
communities had a higher rate of mental health issues than others not in that
category
3.
21st Century Body
Definition (3 marks):
-
The 21st Century Body is the world where technology and the body are connected
and are resulting to individuals questioning our medical professionals and institutions
-
It is the way to improve the body through supplementation
Significance (7 marks):
-
The 21st Century Body can be linked to female genital mutilation (FGM) because
FGM in terms of cultural beliefs which began centuries ago were seen as inhumane
and wrong but in the west FGM was viewed as beauty and empowerment
-
The 21st Century Patient was one with post-modern medical ‘experts’ and who are
constantly reminded that their health is at risk
-
Health Technologies in the 21st century consisted of reproductive technologies like
IVF & surrogate motherhood
-
It goes hand and hand with patient activism as health activism and self-responsibility
is common as medical professionals are spending more time looking at ideals forms
rather than real bodies
-
Cosmetic/aesthetic surgery resulted from the 21st century body as aesthetic surgery
was market driven and likely to lose the original health/physician view that focuses on
the real needs of patients, but instead they lean towards a more business driven view
that aims to sell something and not help people
-
Risk society in the post-modern world is where the world lost faith in our medical
institutions since we live in a
perpetuate (constant)
risk society
-
Surveillance society is where surveillance technology is constantly used to monitor
people’s everyday activities and lives
-
The 21st century body has an impact on mental health, media and children as
teenage girls who have an eating disorder are the same ones on social media that
leads to negative consequences such as body surveillance and are exposed to
unrealistic body standards that were done through plastic surgery
4.
Risk Society
Definition (3 marks):
-
Risk society is the manner in which modern society organizes in response to risk.
Significance (7 marks):
-
Discourses of risk in the post-modern world
-
Responsibility & choice - regulating individual lives & bodies
-
Risk & surveillance society, Environmental risk, Global risk
-
‘The natural’ & managing risk, The Lure of the Natural
5.
Scientific Racism
Definition (3 marks):
-
Scientific Racism is a system of knowledge that uses “scientific” language, methods,
and communication networks to try to explain and justify racial hierarchies and
discrimination
-
Race is a social construction: an idea based on complicated and often contradictory
social, cultural, economic, and political beliefs
Significance (7 marks):
-
The prison industrial complex is a term we use to describe the overlapping interest of
government and industry that use surveillance, policing and imprisonment as
solutions to economic, social and political problems
-
Transformative justice is a way of responding to violence and harm without creating
more violence and harm
-
Invest in people, not prisons for example increase access to all medical services and
increase funding for social housing, food security programs, social assistance, and
community programs
-
Foster alternative to the criminal justice system by holding family group conferencing,
sentencing circles, victim-offer mediation and community reparation boards
-
Health harms in prisons include poor environmental conditions, addiction and
substance use, infectious disease, mental illness, maternal health care, physical and
sexual violence, medical neglect
-
Criminalization of trauma includes intergenerational trauma, interpersonal trauma,
trauma resulting from prior and/or current experiences in carceral institutions and
negative health outcomes associated with trauma
-
Race, indigeneity and health in prisons, Holmesburg prison trials (1951-1974)
-
The Puerto Rico Pill Trials (1955), Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-1972)
-
Racial formation theory is the extension of racial meaning to a previously unclassified
relationship, social practice or group.
6.
Gender vs Sex
Definition (3 marks):
-
Sex is the biological and physiological characteristics that separate males and
females. These characteristics are like chromosomes, hormones and reproductive
organs.
-
Gender is the social and cultural expectations associated with being male or female.
Gender includes gender roles, gender expression and gender identity.
Significance (7 marks):
-
The medicalization of trans people which described trans life as abnormal. The WHO
and DSM classified being transgender as a mental health disorder. “Gender Identity
Disorder”.
-
Gender and Sex relate to intersex people who are people born with a combination of
male and female biological traits
-
John Money introduced gender to medicine and was an advocate for sex
reassignment surgery for intersex or transgender people. Believed that intersex
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people are “underdeveloped”. Led to intersex surgeries which always caused more
harm than good.
-
The Gay Gene resulted from research that indicated that men with specific genes
were more likely to be homosexual than men without the gene
-
Led to gender dysphoria that was analyzed by eNeuro and Gliske which argued that
dysphoria is merely a sensory perception condition
-
Some healthcare providers may assume that an individual’s gender aligns with their
biological sex, which leads to disparities in healthcare access and treatment for
transgender or gender non-conforming individuals
-
Gender vs Sex relates to Patient Activism as their are intersex activist groups that are
demanding intersex surgery to end due to its harmful results
-
In sports, gender identity can be a source of controversy in cases where trans
individuals wish to compete in categories that are not aligned with their biological sex.
7.
Thanatechnology & The Stare
Definition (3 marks):
-
Thanatology comes from the greek word thanatos meaning death, and it gained
broad acceptance as a field of study in the 1950’s. The study of death.
-
Carla Sofka is a theorist who studies thanatology and coined the term
thanatechnology in 1996
-
Any kind of technology that can be used to deal with death, dying, grief, loss, trauma,
disability and illness such as online memorials, online counselling for grief and trauma
and digital wills
-
New media and the Stare is a concept coined by Garland Thompson in 2005 about
how media can be used to stare at the lives of foreign, hideous, contorted or stunning
people.
Significance (7 marks):
-
Death became medicalized and with the use of medical technology people try to
cheat death. Focus on managing symptoms of death and prolonging life instead of
accepting death as a natural part of human experience.
-
In relation to sports, this technology can be used in sports medicine and injury
prevention. VR could be used to simulate sports environments and help athletes
prepare for a competition and minimize risk of injury.
-
Staring is curiosity when we laud it and voyeurism when we condemn it, and a
voyeur/devotee is someone who is sexually aroused by people with disabilities and
may fetishize the tools or equipment used by people with disabilities. Like people
using prosthetic or bionic limbs, as seen in the topic of the 21st century body.
-
Thanatechnology can be used to support individuals who have experienced
abortions, through online support groups and online trauma therapy. Provides a
space for those grieving after having undergone an abortion procedure to come
together and share their experience.
-
Thanatechonogy can relate to the role of Facebook, a social media platform being
used as a commercial platform for the process of grief and loss as they designed
features such as legacy contacts who can manage a deceased user’s account which
raises ethical concerns of monetizing grief and loss
-
It relates to patient activism as the online universe brings people together for social
support and offers grief through digital memorials
-
Thanatechnology comes with many disadvantages such as making it hard to let go of
a loved one, Devotee-ism, harm inflicted by cyber bullies and trolls and people
abandoning you online. “Potential for social media to be a contemporary freak show”
INTRODUCTION
1.
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw the creation of large-scale, western
biomedical health systems that served large populations through public health,
professionalization, institutionalization, and state medicine.
Western biomedical health systems served large populations through public health
-
By implementing various strategies such as disease surveillance, prevention and control,
health education and promotion, vaccination programs, and health policies and regulations
-
For example increasing the amount of social programs in the Prison Industrial Complex
-
As people with access to fewer services like Indigenous People, relied on public health and
emergency rooms.
-
At the turn of the 20th century, many Canadian feared that our country was facing a crisis
which was surrounded by issues of public health
-
An example of a public health measure includes vaccination mandates, however, vaccine
hesitancy remains a growing concern in developed and developing countries.
-
In the reading it says that Public health authorities are tasked with finding strategies to
effectively address vaccine hesitancy
Western biomedical health systems served large populations through professionalization
-
Medical professionals are a group of specialized, trained professionals who have a
recognized body of knowledge, skills and standards of practice.
-
Prior to the establishment of professionalization, health care was provided by lay healers,
midwives and other non-professionals
-
As the field of medicine advanced and new discoveries were made, there was a growing need
for more specialized, and highly trained healthcare providers
-
Led to professionalization of medicine, and establishment of medical schools, licensing
requirements, and professional associations.
-
Created a sense of trust and legitimacy in the healthcare system
Western biomedical health systems served large populations through institutionalization
-
Refers to the establishment of hospitals, clinics and nursing homes as formalized institutions
which are dedicated to the provision of healthcare services
-
Previously healthcare was provided in the home, places of religious worship and small clinics.
-
With the advancement of medicine and development of newer technologies came a need for
larger and more specialized facilities to provide care to larger populations.
-
Institutionalization of healthcare helped centralize resources and expertise, allowing for more
efficient and effective healthcare delivery.
Western biomedical health systems served large populations through state medicine
-
Known as nationalized healthcare
-
Which is a healthcare system or type of prevention medicine where the government is
responsible for providing and funding healthcare services to all the people of a country,
regardless of their ability to pay.
-
For example enforcing rehabilitation programs for addicts that don’t incorporate the criminal
justice system,
-
State medicine is one approach that Western biomedical health systems can take to serve
large populations by ensuring that healthcare services are accessible and affordable to all
citizens unlike complementary alternative medicine (CAM)
-
Ensures that western countries provide high-quality healthcare services to their populations.
BODY PARAGRAPHS
i. Define and explain each of the 5 factors listed above. Explain clearly how each of them
poses a threat to the power and supremacy of Western Biomedicine.
Next I will be defining and ranking the next 5 factors in order of threat level, where ……
a) Vaccine hesitancy 2
-
Refers to the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate oneself or one’s children despite the
availability of vaccines.
-
Can be influenced by concerns about vaccine safety and efficacy, distrust of healthcare
providers / pharmaceutical companies, and cultural or religious beliefs
-
Vaccine hesitancy can pose a threat to Western Biomedicine’s power and supremacy by
undermining the effectiveness of vaccination programs, which are an essential approach to
preventing and controlling infectious diseases.
-
Vaccines have been crucial in reducing the incidence of diseases such as measles, polio, and
smallpox and have saved countless lives over the past century.
-
Vaccine hesitancy suggests that individuals have different priorities or beliefs about health
and wellness that conflict with the values and principles of western biomedicine.
b) Patient activism 1
-
Patient activism refers to patients advocating for their own health and influencing and
challenging healthcare policies and practices.
-
They are typically considered bad patients because they problematized and go against
institutional power and the use of technology and pharmaceutical and research funding
-
Patient activism can pose a threat to Western Biomedicine’s power and supremacy by
challenging traditional power dynamics within the medical system and calling out medical
professionals and institutions and raising awareness when things aren’t under control
-
Patient activism can be a powerful force for change and accountability for those in higher
status in the medical world and help those in marginalized communities who are not being
treated ethically and discriminated against.
-
It can also be a threat as the rise of digital technologies and social media has transformed
patient activism making it easier for them to connect patients together and spread and share
their illness experiences to the world.
c) An awareness of racism in medicine 3
-
The recognition and acknowledgement of the ways in which racism and systemic biases
impact healthcare delivery, medical research, and medical education
-
Understanding of how racism can lead to disparities in healthcare access, quality of care and
health outcomes for marginalized populations
-
Poses a threat to power and supremacy of Western Biomedicine because it challenges the
notion that Western medicine is a neutral and completely objective and unbiased field.
-
Highlights the importance of diversity and inclusion in healthcare and emphasizes the need to
integrate diverse perspectives and knowledge systems into healthcare delivery and medical
research.
d) The “risk society” 5
-
Risk society is the manner in which modern society organizes in response to risks to health
and finding methods to prevent such potential risks.
-
The risk society can be a threat by challenging traditional practices of medical professionals
and authority as in a risk society, patients are highly informed and encouraged to make
decisions about their own health, which can lead to a reduction in reliance on medical
professionals and institutions.
-
As in the post modern world where we lost our faith in our medical institutions, it raises
concerns for the Western biomedicine’s world true intentions when it comes down to
healthcare as questions are being raised regarding if such policies or practices of medical
professionals are to increase profits or if they are truly for the health benefits of the patients.
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e) Gender affirming care 4
-
Medical and psychological treatments aimed at supporting individuals who identify as
transgender or gender non- conforming in affirming their gender identity
-
Treatments such as hormone therapy, gender-affirming surgery and mental health counseling.
-
Gender affirming care poses a threat to the power and supremacy of Western Biomedicine
because it challenges traditional binary understandings of gender & sex
-
Demands a more inclusive approach to healthcare delivery and medical research and
prioritizes the needs and desires of the patient, rather than relying on the authority of medical
professionals
LAST CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH
iv. What does western biomedicine need to do to address (or attempt to solve) the factors you
have ranked?
a) Vaccine hesitancy
-
Medical professionals need to provide clear, evidence based information about vaccines, their
safety and their effectiveness to the general public. Western biomedicine needs to combat
misinformation about vaccines, by addressing the false claims about vaccine safety and
efficacy.
b) Patient Activism
-
Western Biomedicine can work to incorporate patient perspectives and feedback into medical
practice by constantly seeking out patient input and involvement in decision making
processes. For example, they can work together with patient advocacy groups and gain
insights on ways to address systemic issues that lead to patient discrimination or
dissatisfaction and how they can achieve affordable and accessible healthcare.
c) An awareness of racism in medicine
-
Medical professionals need to actively listen and engage with marginalized communities to
understand their experiences and perspectives. Which includes recognizing and addressing
historical and systemic injustices that have led to mistrust of Western Biomedicine.
d) The “Risk Society”
-
Western Biomedicine can change to the needs and expectations of patients by prioritizing
patient-centered care and embracing new technologies and communication strategies. In
order to prevent the reduction in reliance on medical professionals and institutions, they can
acknowledge or consider some aspects of traditional medical knowledge and practice and
work to combine western biomedicine with traditional practices and provide clear information
to their patients.
e) Gender affirming care
-
Western Biomedicine can work to provide more culturally sensitive care for transgender
individuals by investing in research and training on transgender health issues and promoting
inclusion and acceptance within the medical world. This can involve pricing gender affirming
medical treatments, such as hormone therapy and surgery, as well as creating more inclusive
and a safe and welcoming medical environment for transgender patients.