The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (World Health Organization 2020). Health is affected by multiple social, biological, and environmental factors. Disease is strictly biological—an abnormality that affects an individual’s physical structure, chemistry, or function. Going back to the time of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, doctors have regarded disease as the result of both a person’s lifestyle habits and the social environment in which they live. Illness, by comparison, is the individual’s sociocultural experience of a disruption to their physical or mental well-being. An individual’s perception of their own illness is shaped by how that illness is viewed, discussed, and explained by the society they live in. The social perception of another person’s sickness affects that person’s social well-being and how they are viewed and treated by others. Sick roles are the social expectations for a sick person’s behaviors based on their particular sickness—how they should act, how they should treat the sickness, and how others should treat them. Malady is the term anthropologists use to encompass disease, illness, and sickness.
- Health is your state of well-being.
- Disease is a biological abnormality.
- Illness is your sociocultural experience of health.
- Sickness is a social perception of ill health.
- Malady is a broad term for everything above.
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Health | State of well-being | Wellness prior to infection |
| Disease | A biological abnormality | Viral infection |
| Illness | A patient’s sociocultural experience of disrupted health | Fever, sore throat, cough, worry about missing class, disappointment of missing an outing with friends |
| Sickness | A social perception of ill health | Expectations such as: stay home and rest if you have a fever; do not attend class or go out with friends; see a doctor if it lasts longer than 48 hours |
| Malady | A broad term for everything above | Disruption of health caused by a viral infection with fever, sore throat, cough; worry about missing work/class; and the social expectation you will stay home and rest |
Foundational to medical anthropology is an understanding of health and malady that includes social experiences and cultural definitions. Medical anthropology studies how societies construct understandings of health and illness, including medical treatments for all types of maladies. Culture affects how we perceive everything, including health. Culture shapes how people think and believe and the values they hold. It shapes everything people have and do. Many cultures approach health and illness in completely different ways from one another, often informed by a number of societal factors. Medical anthropology provides a framework for common study and comparison between cultures, highlighting systems and illustrating how culture determines how health is perceived.
The content of this course has been taken from the free Anthropology textbook by Openstax