The concept of health status

Given the historical and conceptual links between the concepts of status and role [1–3], it is suprising that the relative little attention has been given to the problem of conceptualizaing health as a social status. This problem is the focus of the present paper. It is argued that thealth and illness can be conceptualized in a specifically sociological frame of reference, with respect to biophysical changes in the organic states of individualis. Toward this end we will review the limited literature in the concept of health status and studies linking social stratification, ethnicity, and situational factors with difference in the designation of individuals as “sick”. This leads to the presentation of a model focusing on the process of status designation with special attention to the circumstances under which individuals are defined as well or ill. Insofar as behaviour are the result of roles, and roles are determined by social statuses, the concept of status becomes an especially important sociological problem. With reference to studies of illness behavior and the sick role, it is one with which the field of medical sociology has yet to come to grips. Our attention is directed to that problem.