Theoretical backgrounds of the sociological analysis of medical care consumption

• Main Author: Nikita A. Vyalykh
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology 2015-03-01
• Series: Социологический журнал
• Online Access: http://jour.fnisc.ru/upload/journals/1/articles/1250/submission/proof/1250-61-4189-1-10-20150927.pdf

The topicality of the article is the necessity to construct theoretical bases of medical care consumption study in sociology. The purpose of this article is a systematic analysis of the content and boundaries in using the category of medical care consumption in sociological science. The novelty of the work is expressed in the applying of transdisciplinary methodological principle in medical care consumption phenomenon study. The author comes to the conclusion about the possibility of integrating of biomedical, valeological, axiological, economic, socio-cultural approaches for better sociological understanding of illness behaviour. Micro sociological perspective views medical care consumption as a stage of individual “disease career” in the social relation context. Macro sociological tradition is concerned with primarily how institutional limitations and cultural program of society influence medical activity. Socially-status and socio-cultural differences produce consumer strategies due to which form a secondary stratified division of society in the sphere of medical care consumption. Thus, the task of modern sociology, in the opinion of the author, is to link the socio-cultural basis of medical care consumption strategies with socio-economic structure of society. At the end of article the author emphasizes that sociological approach allows to reveal the hidden subjective and objective factors of medical care accessibility, as well as to define the reasons and effects of obvious limitations in medical care system