Question

How does both individual and social perception affect health and medicine in our society (sick role, medicalization)? How does the medical industry affect how health and illness are defined?

Answer 1

The individual and social perception are the two 2 major factors which affects the health and medicine in our society.

The individual factors depends upon a person's knowledge about health and medication,his thinking about health and illness and his behaviour and habit that influence health and medication. the social factors depends upon educational status of the society ,income and occupation of the society,ethinicity,race,religious believes,political affinity,geographical area of the society.

When a person is ill/sick he is not physically affected but mentally too. At this time the above mentioned factors hugely influence his state of mind and choice of treatment on medication. In the society a sick person is considered as weak and exempted from certain social roles.In the older times, where medication and diagnostic studies were not much prevalent people's social and religious aspects influenced their concept of health and medication. In contrast in the modern times where every human condition and problem come to defined and considered as medical condition, and this become a subject of medical study,diagnosis and prevention which is called medicalization.  

medical industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. It uses most modern sophisticated technology and advanced health care standards  in its realm.Therefore it is evident that reduction in common infectious diseases owing to public health measures,vaccines,antibiotics and decline of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality due to advances in prevention and therapy and cancer immuno therapies and advances in genome editing. such advansments in the medical industry influence people and they heaively depend upon them. The rapid technological advances will increase the pace of change,potentially accelarating divisions between winners and losers and widening social inequality.