Sociology; Health and Environment Analysis

The topic I had received was Health and the Environment and how it can be seen in a

sociological sense with different topics such as health practices, illness and social order, power,

health and resources, social epidemiology, distribution of healthcare, and social class, to name a

few. I didn’t exactly choose this topic, but I’m fine with having to further delve into it, as I knew

actually nothing and assumed it was a whole other topic altogether until further research. A

certain environmental factor is social class, such as being lower class i.e. being poor, can be an

influence towards health due to not being able to afford a healthy variety or even any variety of

food, which in turn can lead to other negative health effects such as depression from not being

able to provide for yourself or your family, anxiety; never knowing what may happen to you or

your family down the road especially when it comes to a financial problem, how will you afford

doctor checkups/medical help in general if you have no money, these are merely a few factors

which can determined by your place in the society. Basically, if you’re seen as invaluable by

society, whether it be career or social class it will have some form of a negative impact on your

health mentally, physically, or in even more server cases; both. Another major factor is the issue

involving health care and how it’s distributed to those around the world, the inequality is quite

unpleasant, in fact, Martin Luther King, Jr. himself stated how “of all forms of inequality,

injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane” which is truly saying a lot

considering the other horrible inequalities people have been faced with prior. You would think

with how many people are lower class Healthcare would be easily accessible for all but sadly

enough “affordable healthcare” is a joke. According to PBS nearly ⅓ of Americans have either

no health insurance or their insurance too insecure to help solve the problem, meaning that if
something unexpected comes along the way and a family member needs some form of medical

care, it’s not as easily available at all, which in turn greatly affects the lower class’ health.

I tried to make my montage showcase the struggles of poverty and give just a view into

what life is like for many families, to help gain a better understanding of their living conditions

and hopefully open some eyes to how it could hurt the families health in the long run. I also

showcased some images of the homeless, two of which were those who seemed to be well off,

perhaps upper class ignoring the lower class (homeless) completely, even taking pictures right

next to them! These two images seemed very powerful to me, as they both showcased just how

much we ignore those of lower stature due to society deeming them as “unworthy”. I also added

a few images which showcased protest for easier and actually affordable healthcare for all, to

help give off the node that, no matter your social class, you should be able to afford healthcare to

ensure the protection and safety of you and your family. When it comes to the theoretical

perspectives; Interactionists believe that social class isn’t exactly a defining factor to someone,

considering they believe everyone has a different value/feature to the society as a whole, stating

that everyone has a different thought process and shouldn’t be grouped into stereotypes. Perhaps

Interactionists aren’t very keen on how people interact with those of lower class, despite not

believing in the class system, considering how poorly most people interact with those in poverty.

As for the functionalist perspective’s approach to this topic, they’re more geared towards how

each part of society contributes to the core stability of said society, therefore they probably don’t

look too highly on those of the lower class considering the stigma surrounded around them but

perhaps they know that without the lower class, balance wouldn’t necessarily be a thing, not

everyone wants to be a garbage man, drive a bus, or work at a fast food chain but without people
in the lower class doing these jobs to get any money they can, who else would? Finally, the

conflict theory would greatly love to study this topic due to the mass amount of inequalities that

are given which can contribute to societal differences quite niche.

PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, ​www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/healthinsurance.html​.