In the history of sociological theory, Talcott Parsons holds a very special place. His The Structure of Social Action (1937), was a pioneer work that has influenced many social scientists. The present work, The Social System, presents a major scientific and intellectual advance towards the theory of action first outlined in his earlier work.

This paper is a general interpretation of the social determinants of health and health care in Africa over the past century. The evolution of health cannot be separated from the broader story of social change. The political and economic forces which shaped the continent's history also established the framework within which patterns of diagnosis and treatment, health and disease, emerged. The implication of this is that healers of all kinds—whether doctors or “traditional healers”—have been less influential than we commonly think in shaping states of health or in healing the sick. This position opens up a range of difficult problems which are addressed in the following pages. What is the exact nature of the link between the broad political-economic forces and the distribution of health or disease? Which of these forces have driven therapeutics along its historical path, and by what means? What role do healers actually play? The body of the paper is divided into three main sections. The first explores the micro-sociology of changing treatment of illness. In most African communities several kinds of healers work side by side: physicians or medical assistants, specialists in sorcery or spirit possession, Christian or Muslim religious healers, and others. Multiple authorities co-exist, and therefore no one healer decides the cause or cure of illnesses in a way which others accept as beyond challenge. But treatment cannot exist without coordination. Someone must decide on a course of action when lives are threatened.

The Social System

Struggles for control: the social roots of health and healing in modern Africa.

The Dynamics of Power A Field Study of Social Influence in Groups of Children

In several ways, Swidler provides a more developed analysis of the relationship between culture and social movements than does McAdam. First, she focuses on the ways culture shapes individual beliefs and desires. Thus, culture provides a means by which people make sense of the world. Second, Swidler examines the ways culture provides repertoires of public symbols that structure the kinds of expected responses that individuals develop from their social interactions. A handshake on first meeting a person could be seen as such a symbol: Failure to shake hands once another has been extended is a deliberate insult. Thus, once they have offered it, most people expect that their hand will be shaken. Such an expectation represents cultural knowledge that exists even when no handshake is ongoing. Such assumptions may shape how a social movement acts even if its members are ideologically divided and its contention with the broader society sharp. Third, Swidler pays attention to the ways social institutions shape movement activities: If official organizations and others try to integrate or co-opt a group, for example, the movement is likely to behave differently than if it faces aggressive, perhaps violent, repression. Culture, then, is more than just the private beliefs of individual group members, and it is more than a set of broad principles that can be used for group purposes. It involves a dynamic interaction that shapes private and public acts together.

Cultural Power and Social Movements

This article analyses the use and production of health information on the Internet. The paper will show that users of health services have also become significant providers of health information and advice. This analysis is based on two studies. The first involved a qualitative study of households that used home computers to find health information on the Internet. The second piece of research involved the examination of home pages that contained accounts of ill health and an e-mailed questionnaire to home page authors. Drawing upon this research the consumption of health information is examined and related to how users make discussions about their health. This is followed by an analysis of the provision of health information on home pages. It is shown that these include web sites that provide simple accounts of an individual illness as well as sites that advocate a particular approach to health or offer services and products. The interweaving of personal experience with advice is considered and linked to...

The Social System

Citations

Struggles for control: the social roots of health and healing in modern Africa.

The Dynamics of Power A Field Study of Social Influence in Groups of Children

Cultural Power and Social Movements

'E-health': the internet and the transformation of patients into consumers and producers of health knowledge

New Institutionalism in Education, The

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