William C. Cockerham > Quotes

“with a bias toward individualism that affects our conceptualization of the social. Smelser (1997: 29) says: “We live in the Western cultural tradition, which has exploited the cultural values of individualism. As children of that tradition, we are most comfortable taking the individual person as the starting point of analysis. Put another way, that cultural tradition ‘tilts’ us toward assuming that the natural unit for the behavioral and social sciences is the individual.”
― William C. Cockerham, Social Causes of Health and Disease

“Link and Phelan maintain that social conditions are fundamental causes of disease. In order for a social variable to qualify as a fundamental cause of disease and mortality, Link and Phelan (1995: 87) hypothesize that it must (1) influence multiple diseases, (2) affect these diseases through multiple pathways of risk, (3) be reproduced over time, and (4) involve access to resources that can be used to avoid risks or minimize the consequences of disease if it occurs. They define social conditions as factors that involve a person’s relationships with other people.”
― William C. Cockerham, Social Causes of Health and Disease

“Thus class boundaries were also cultural boundaries and in a very real sense constituted health boundaries as well.”
― William C. Cockerham, Social Causes of Health and Disease

“Social class or socioeconomic status (SES) is the strongest predictor of health, disease causation, and longevity in medical sociology.”
― William C. Cockerham, Social Causes of Health and Disease

“rather, it recognizes that social structures influence the thoughts, decisions, and actions of individuals (Sibeon 2004). The theoretical model presented here is strongly influenced by Weber and Bourdieu.”
― William C. Cockerham, Social Causes of Health and Disease

“rather that healthy eating symbolizes something undesirable and exposes them to social risks. While this may seem irrational to public health experts, Stead and her associates argue that unhealthy eating can be viewed by the teenagers as profoundly rational because of the risk of an impaired social identity and rejection by peers.”
― William C. Cockerham, Social Causes of Health and Disease

“Autonomy in making decisions and the control it gives those that have it over their lives is essential, in his view, for a sense of well-being, social engagement, health,”
― William C. Cockerham, Social Causes of Health and Disease

“structural variables, namely (a) class circumstances, (b) age, gender, and race/ethnicity, (c) collectivities, and (d) living conditions, provide the social context for (2) socialization and experience that influence (3) life choices (agency).”
― William C. Cockerham, Social Causes of Health and Disease

“For example, in a major review of stress research in medical sociology in the mid-1990s, Peggy Thoits (1995: 56) observed that: “Despite attributions of the origins of stress to large-scale social structures or processes, few investigators have attempted to examine the links between macro-level factors and micro-level experiences, preferring to assess, for example, status variations in role strains, powerlessness, or lack of control at the individual level only.”
― William C. Cockerham, Social Causes of Health and Disease

“That is, whether or not an act is considered deviant depends upon how it is labeled (defined) by other people. For example, in a well-known study of jazz musicians, Becker (1963) found marijuana use to be considered normal by the musicians, but labeled as illegal, deviant behavior by the larger society, and subject to sanctions like arrest, fines, and jail terms. Although labeling theory pertained to deviance generally, several studies focused on the mental patient experience in which persons once treated for mental illness found it difficult to shed the label of “former mental patient” even if the experience was in the past and the person supposedly cured (Scheff [1966] 1999).”
― William C. Cockerham, Social Causes of Health and Disease

“disease in the casual chain.” Consequently, the direct effects of social structures on health are often ignored, even though social structures and conditions may ultimately be responsible for causing the health problem under investigation (Lomas 1998; Sweat and Denison 1995).”
― William C. Cockerham, Social Causes of Health and Disease