SI - Politics, Economy, Health and Welfare Lesson
Politics, Economy, Health and Welfare
According to the RAND Corporation (an American based, non-profit think tank that focuses on research and development with the goal of improving policies and decision-making) 
, there are certain steps that all nations must take in order to build a peaceful and prosperous future- and these steps fall under four categories: military, political, humanitarian and economic. It is the last three that we will discuss as they are also social institutions (think of humanitarianism in the context of health and welfare.)
Politics is the social institution that distributes power and sets a course of action for society. People form a government based on politics to direct and control the inhabitants of a community in order to gain stability and prosperity for the community. Sociologists have developed many theories as to how power is disseminated and who is given authority to make communal decisions, but three stand out the most. Surely you can guess which sociological approaches these theories relate to?
Pluralist Model
Applying the Structural-Functional Approach, this analysis of politics recognizes the spreading of power among different groups. As resources to accomplish individual goals are limited, these different groups compete with one another to push forward their own agendas at the expense of other interest groups. This model sees the United States as a functional and true democracy since power is widely spread throughout society giving all people a voice.
Power-Elite Model
Applying the Social-Conflict Approach, this analysis of politics argues that power is consolidated mostly among the wealthy. The name of this model stems from the term coined by C. Wright Mills in 1956- "power-elite." According to Mills, the "power-elite" is a group made up of individuals who are either very wealthy, top political officials, or high-ranking military officers (or some combination of those three.) This group moves through the most powerful levels of the American branches of government and gradually concentrates all authority into their own hands. As a result, their voices have become so strong that they drown out the rest of American voices with the result that the United States is not really a democracy where the people rule- rather it is a government where the "power-elite" rule.
(For example, if Mills were alive today, he would point to the same names that repeatedly hold different political offices or advisory positions within the American government over periods of decades.)
Marxist Political-Economy Model
Applying the Social-Conflict Approach again (Surprise!), this analysis of politics unites the political with the economic. Unlike the Power-Elite Model that claims certain individuals are responsible for usurping the power from the people, the Marxist Political-Economy Model argues that a capitalist economy creates a system that pushes certain individuals into positions of total power. This model would agree that the United States is not a real democracy due to its overall economic system rather than due to the actions of any specific individuals.
Capitalist Global Economy
Watch the Video on Capitalist Global Economy.
With the mention of the last political analysis, let's turn our attention to the social institution known as the economy which is responsible for the organization of a society's production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Before the Industrial Revolution, the economy was just an aspect of family life. However, with the explosion of wealth and production following the Industrial Revolution, the economy emerged as an independent social institution- a rather influential one, at that. Sociologists study the trends that surround the different stages of economics and look to find patterns that explain societal shifts that can be linked back to a change in the economy.
Stages of Economics and Societal Shifts
Here are a few examples of what they have found:
Although the above examples provide a rather cursory list of societal impacts from economic upheavals, you can get the gist of how sociologists have been able to track a possible connection between a massive change in the economy with an overhaul in social structure, social institutions, and cultural elements. With this knowledge, they can make predictions as to upcoming changes in those societies located in developing nations so as to guide policies that affect the social institutions for the future. But, remember, a sociologist isn't interested only in the grand scheme of things- they also study the day-to-day economic conditions to find patterns that affect society and vice versa.
The last social institution that we will look at is health and welfare. Health is the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being; and welfare is a good fortune, health, happiness, prosperity of a person, group, or organization. The two are very connected. The study of how health and disease are distributed throughout a society's population is known as social epidemiology. This, in particular, is what sociologists study to determine, again, patterns that affect society. What the sociologist deduces from these patterns is usually within the context of one of the three major theoretical approaches.
Theoretical Approach to Health
| According to the Structural-Functional Approach, the health and welfare of individuals affect their ability to perform their functions in society. Illness is viewed as dysfunction as it reduces or prevents individuals from being able to behave according to their roles in society. | |
| According to the Social-Conflict Approach, the health and welfare of individual members of society are adversely affected by disproportionate access to those resources that are used to improve health and welfare. Thus, perpetuating social inequality. | |
| According to the Symbolic-Interaction Approach, the ways individuals react to the increases or decreases in conditions of health and welfare reflect social symbols and interpretations more so than the actual state of health and welfare. In other words, people's responses to a decline in health or welfare are based on emotions and socially constructed meanings more so than medical facts. |
Health
Watch the Video on Health.
One last thing to consider regarding social institutions- although we have been studying each social institution separately, it is important to notice that each affects and responds to the other. None of these social institutions exist in a vacuum; it is practically impossible to change one without changing another. To help visualize the relationships between each social institution as well as the relationship between the social institutions and society, use an image of gears.
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