Talcott Parsons Illness As A Deviant
Talcott Parsons wrote in the early 1950’s. At this time very few sociologists paid attention to health. Parsons wanted to show how the biological aspects of social life could be understood through a sociological lens.
Starting point: all social actions can be understood in terms of how they help society function effectively or not.
When a person is sick they are unable to perform social roles normally. It disturbs society’s functioning in the same way that crime does. Therefore illness can be viewed as ‘deviant’.
Illness needs to be controlled in some way and the deviant helped or forced into performing their social role once again.
Parsons suggested that illness was a social concept, so being ill meant acting different, deviant ways compared
Starting point: all social actions can be understood in terms of how they help society function effectively or not.
When a person is sick they are unable to perform social roles normally. It disturbs society’s functioning in the same way that crime does. Therefore illness can be viewed as ‘deviant’.
Illness needs to be controlled in some way and the deviant helped or forced into performing their social role once again.
Parsons suggested that illness was a social concept, so being ill meant acting different, deviant ways compared