Social factors are things, people,
places, or events that influence a person's behavior.
There are two subcategories under
social factors these are known as social location and social
institutions. A social location is a group a people with similar
characteristics who are involved in a group, this group is a group
that can influence the person's behavior and maybe even make the
person who they are today. For example, some social locations that I
would belong to would be things such as I am a female, I am in a
relationship, I am 18, I am Caucasian, and I am a freshman in
college. All of the things listed are characteristics that I have in
common with other people. Each different characteristics listed would
make up a different social location. Next I will explain social
institutions. Social institutions are things that are included in
every society that can influence a person's behavior. Social
institutions are not necessarily a building or a place, just things
that are involved in every society, big or small. Not all social
locations have a certain place or building that you can point out.
Some examples of social institutions would be neighborhoods, whether
it is an urban or rural community, how many members are in your
family, marital status, education, religion, race, hobbies, law
enforcement, medical, economy/economic system, and industries. All
that are listed are social institutions that can be found in every
society, things that can influence a person's behavior and the way
that they chose to live their life.
Sociology is the study of behavior,
groups, and the development of a society. Medical sociology takes all
of the things that sociology focuses on and links them to the health
of groups and people of the world. The things that medical
sociologists find are things that play big roles in people's lives
and their health based on their social aspects of life. The roles
that social factors play in medical sociology have a huge influence
on the health of people and the ways at which they organize the
hazardous things around them (Cockerham 2012). Some examples of
groups and possibilities that could happen are; college students,
college students aren't necessarily going to drink but that is a
common age at which drinking occurs. There are many reasons for this
I am sure but this being said drinking can have a huge impact on your
health and how people view you as a person. Another example would be
your race, discrimination has been a huge problem in society for many
years and being discriminated against can have a large impact on
someone's health. It can make you angry and maybe ruin your self
esteem. These
things are both social factors that can be seen in different ways by
medical sociologists, things that can effect a person's health and
how they live their every day life.
I input a video so that you could hear these terms in another person's words and then maybe the concept would be a little easier to understand.
As you can see social factors are a big part of our everyday activities and environments. They can effect your health in different ways and they can also mold who you are as a person. Medical sociology has a different view of health but it calculated readings that can play a big role in someone's health depending on their social institutions as well as their social locations.
References:
1. Cockerham, William C. 2012. Medical
Sociology, 12th Ed. Boston: Prentice Hall.
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