Symbolic-interaction theory reveals that what peo- ple view as healthful or harmful depends on a host of factors that are not, strictly speaking, medical. This approach also shows that in any medical procedure, both patient and medical staff engage in a subtle process of reality construction. Finally, this approach has helped us understand the symbolic importance of limbs and other bodily organs; the loss of any part of the body—through accident or elective surgery—can have important consequences for personal identity. By directing attention to the meanings people attach to health or illness, symbolic-interaction theory draws criticism for implying that there are no objective standards of well-being. Certain physical condi- tions do indeed cause specific changes in people, regardless of how we may view those conditions. People who lack sufficient nutrition and safe water, for example, suffer from their unhealthy environment, whether they define their surroundings as normal or not. Self-reported measures of student health show a downward trend. Students’ self-assessments of their “emotional health” are now as low as ever recorded (Eagan et al., 2014). And, as Figure 14–3 shows, the share of first-year college students in the United States who describe their physical health as “above average” is lower today than it was in 1985. Do you think such research findings reflect changing perceptions or a real decline in health (due, say, to eating more unhealthy food)? Check Your Learning Explain what it means to say that health, the treatment of illness, and personal identity are all socially constructed.
Symbolic-interaction theory reveals that what peo- ple view as healthful or harmful depends on a host of factors that are not, strictly speaking, medical. This approach also shows that in any medical procedure, both patient and medical staff engage in a subtle process of reality construction. Finally, this approach has helped us understand the symbolic importance of limbs and other bodily organs; the loss of any part of the body—through accident or elective surgery—can have important consequences for personal identity. By directing attention to the meanings people attach to health or illness, symbolic-interaction theory draws criticism for implying that there are no objective standards of well-being. Certain physical condi- tions do indeed cause specific changes in people, regardless of how we may view those conditions. People who lack sufficient nutrition and safe water, for example, suffer from their unhealthy environment, whether they define their surroundings as normal or not. Self-reported measures of student health show a downward trend. Students’ self-assessments of their “emotional health” are now as low as ever recorded (Eagan et al., 2014). And, as Figure 14–3 shows, the share of first-year college students in the United States who describe their physical health as “above average” is lower today than it was in 1985. Do you think such research findings reflect changing perceptions or a real decline in health (due, say, to eating more unhealthy food)? Check Your Learning Explain what it means to say that health, the treatment of illness, and personal identity are all socially constructed.
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