Pojęcie zdrowia - otwarcie się medycyny na socjologię

Abstrakt

The author justifies the thesis that any changes in the definition of health points to a need for cooperation between medicine and sociology. The point of departure of the changes as the understanding of health is the definition of the World Health Organization of 1947. This definition takes health in opposition to illness as a psychological and social well-being. An answer to the above definition is to point to the social criteria of health and illness. Within the sphere of sociology the problem was discussed by T. Parsons and other sociologists. They pinpointed the social context of health and illness by applying the concept of social role in their analyses. A further change in the understanding of health questioned the latter formulation in the domain sociology. The World Health Organization formulated its new programme in the following slogan: „Your health in your hands”. This watchword opened up many new problems for which the categories of social role proved insufficient.