The Effect of Social Organization on Everyday Life and Health Essay

The Effect of Social Organization on Everyday Life and Health Most people do not think about their health or issues revolving around their health until they are actually ill or people think that their health is only affected by biological factors. However, our health should be a focus in our lives because our daily life has an affect on our health. Illness does not only have biological causes but is also influenced by social factors such as the socially imposed roles of gender and socioeconomic differences. Before the affect of gender on health can be discussed, the difference between gender and sex must first defined. Sex refers to actual physiological and hormonal differences between men and women; gender refers to the differences that are imposed by society. Statistics have shown that women have higher rates of morbidity but men have shorter life spans. This means that although women live longer than men, those years are not healthy years but rather are filled with illness. This cannot be completely explained by biological causes but the affect of social factors must be taken into account. There are two types of gender difference disease: completely biological and biological amplified by social. Examples of completely biological diseases would include ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, breast cancer, and cervical cancer for women and prostrate cancer and testicular cancer for men. These diseases can only be had by members of a certain sex due to specific biological factors such as only women having ovaries therefore are able to have ovarian cancer whereas men have no ovaries and cannot get ovarian cancer. The other class of gender difference diseases is disease with biological causes but amplified by social factors. Examples... ..., those in a lower socioeconomic status have higher incidences of diseases aggravated by stress such as cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. This added stress also leads to negative health behaviors such as smoking, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse all of which have adverse affects on health. These various stressors of everyday life caused by gender differences and differences in socioeconomic status can have a more profound affect than they seem. Bibliography: Rieker, Patricia P. and Chloe E. Bird. "Sociological Explanations of Gender Differences In Mental and Physical Health." Handbook of Medical Sociology. Ed. Chloe E. Bird, et al. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice, 2000. 98-113. Weiss, Gregory L. and Lynne E. Lonnquist. The Sociology of Health, Healing, and Illness. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice, 2000.