Helman Culture, Health and Illness

An Introduction for Health Professionals
2. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4831-4139-8
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Techn.
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 354 Seiten

Culture, Health and Illness: An Introduction for Health Professionals, Second edition discusses the fundamentals of medical anthropology. The book is comprised of 12 chapters that present both the theoretical framework and case histories relevant to the topic. The coverage of the text includes the relationship of culture to various health related concepts, such as pain, pharmacology, stress, and epidemiology. The book also discusses the doctor-patient relation, the various sectors of health care, and the scope of medical anthropology. The text will be of great use to professionals in health related fields. Researchers and practitioners of anthropology, sociology, and psychology will also benefit from this book.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Helman, Cecil G.

Leseproben

Chapter 1

Introduction: the scope of medical anthropology

Publisher Summary

Medical anthropology is about how people in different cultures and social groups explain the causes of ill-health, the types of treatment they believe in, and to whom they turn if they fall ill. It is also the study of how these beliefs and practices relate to biological and psychological changes in the human organism, in both health and disease. Anthropology—from the Greek, meaning “the study of man”—has been called “the most scientific of the humanities and the most humane of the sciences,” Its aim is nothing less than the holistic study of humankind—its origins, development, social and political organizations, religions, languages, art and artifacts. Anthropology, as a field of study, has several branches. Physical anthropology—also known as “human biology”—is the study of the evolution of the human species, and is concerned with explaining the causes for the present diversity of human populations. In its investigation of human prehistory, it utilizes the techniques of archaeology, paleontology, genetics and serology, as well as the study of primate behavior and ecology.

Medical anthropology is about how people in different cultures and social groups explain the causes of ill-health, the types of treatment they believe in, and to whom they turn if they do become ill. It is also the study of how these beliefs and practices relate to biological and psychological changes in the human organism, in both health and disease.

To put this subject in perspective, it is necessary to know something about the discipline of anthropology itself, of which medical anthropology is a comparatively new offshoot. Anthropology – from the Greek, meaning ‘the study of Man’ – has been called ‘the most scientific of the humanities and the most humane of the sciences’.1 Its aim is nothing less than the holistic study of humankind – its origins, development, social and political organizations, religions, languages, art and artefacts.

Anthropology, as a field of study, has several branches. also known as ‘human biology’ – is the study of the evolution of the human species, and is concerned with explaining the causes for the present diversity of human populations. In its investigation of human prehistory it utilizes the techniques of archaeology, palaeontology, genetics and serology, as well as the study of primate behaviour and ecology. deals with art and artefacts of mankind, both in the present and in the past. It includes studies of the arts, musical instruments, weapons, clothes, tools and agricultural implements of different populations, and all other aspects of the technology that human beings use to control, shape, exploit and enhance their social or natural environments. and deal with the comparative study of present-day human societies and their cultural systems, although there is a difference in emphasis between these two approaches.

In the UK, social anthropology is the dominant approach, and emphasizes the social dimensions of human life. The human being is a social animal, organized into groups that regulate and perpetuate themselves, and it is men and women’s experience as members of society that shapes their view of the world. In this perspective, culture is seen as one of the ways that humans organize and legitimize society, and provide the basis for its social, political and economic organization. In the USA, cultural anthropology focuses more on the systems of symbols, ideas and meanings that comprise a culture, and of which social organization is just an expression. In practice, the differences in emphasis of social and cultural anthropology provide valuable and complementary perspectives on two central issues – the ways that human groups organize themselves, and the ways that they view the world they inhabit. In other words, when studying a group of human beings, it is necessary to study the features of both their society and their culture.

Keesing2 has defined a as: ‘A population marked by relative separation from surrounding populations and a distinctive culture’. The boundaries between societies are sometimes vague, but in general each has its own territorial and political identity. In studying any society, anthropologists investigate the ways that members of that society organize themselves into various groups, hierarchies and roles. This organization is revealed in its dominant ideology and religion, in its political and economic systems, in the types of bonds that kinship or close residence creates between people, and in the division of labour between different people from different backgrounds and different genders. The rules that underpin the organization of a society and the ways in which it is symbolized and transmitted are all part of that society’s culture.

The concept of ‘culture’

What then is ? a word that will be used on many occasions throughout this book. Anthropologists have provided many definitions of it, perhaps the most famous being E. B. Tylor’s3 definition in 1871: ‘That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society’. Keesing,4 in his definition, stresses the ideational aspect of culture. That is, cultures comprise: ‘Systems of shared ideas, systems of concepts and rules and meanings that underlie and are expressed in the ways that humans live’.

From these definitions one can see that culture is a set of guidelines (both explicit and implicit) which individuals inherit as members of a particular society, and which tells them how to the world, how to experience it , and how to in it in relation to other people, to supernatural forces or gods, and to the natural environment. It also provides them with a way of transmitting these guidelines to the next generation – by the use of symbols, language, art and ritual. To some extent, culture can be seen as an inherited ‘lens’, through which individuals perceive and understand the world that they inhabit, and learn how to live within it. Growing up within any society is a form of enculturation, whereby the individual slowly acquires the cultural ‘lens’ of that society. Without such a shared perception of the world, both the cohesion and the continuity of any human group would be impossible.

One aspect of this ‘cultural lens’ is the division of the world, and the people within it, into different , each with their own name. For example, all cultures divide up their members into different social categories, such as men and women, children or adults, young people or old people, kinsfolk or strangers, upper class or lower class, able or disabled, normal or abnormal, mad or bad, healthy or ill. And all cultures have elaborate ways of moving people from one social category into another (such as from ‘ill person’ to ‘healthy person’), and also of confining people – sometimes against their will – to the categories into which they have been put (such as mad, disabled or elderly5).

Anthropologists such as Leach6 have pointed out that virtually all societies have more than one culture within their borders. For example, most societies have some form of social stratification, into social classes, castes or ranks, and each stratum is marked by its own distinctive cultural attributes, including linguistic usages, manners, styles of dress, dietary and housing patterns, and so on. Rich and poor, powerful and powerless – each will have their own inherited cultural perspective. To some extent, both men and women can have their own distinctive cultures within the same society, and are expected to conform to different norms and different expectations. In addition to such social strata, one can see that most modern complex societies, such as the UK or the USA, include within them religious and ethnic minorities, tourists, foreign students, political refugees, recent immigrants, and migrant workers – each with their own distinctive culture. Many of these groups will undergo some degree of , whereby they incorporate some of the cultural attributes of the larger society. A further subdivision of culture within a complex society is seen in the various professional that exist, such as the medical, nursing, legal or military professions. In each case, they form a group apart, with their own concepts, rules and social organization. Although each subculture is developed from the larger culture, and shares many of its concepts and values, it also has unique, distinctive features of its own. Students in these professions also undergo a form of enculturation, as they slowly acquire the ‘culture’ of their chosen career. In doing so, they also acquire a different perspective on life from those who are outside the profession. In the case of the medical profession, its subculture also reflects many of the social divisions and prejudices of the wider society (see Chapters 4 and 6), and this might interfere with both health care and doctor-patient communication, as...