Health: the nature and social distribution of mental illness

The idea

Sociologists examine both the nature and the social distribution of mental illness. Its nature is heavily debated: the biomedical model views it as an objective pathology, whereas interactionists argue it is socially constructed through labelling. For example, Goffman explored how psychiatric hospitals enforce a 'mentally ill' master status. The social distribution of mental illness reveals stark inequalities across class, gender, and ethnicity. Lower social classes experience higher rates of mental illness, explained by social causation (poverty causes stress) or social drift (illness causes downward mobility). Women are more frequently diagnosed with depression, linked by feminists to patriarchal burdens. Meanwhile, Black men are disproportionately diagnosed with schizophrenia, raising questions about institutional racism and cultural bias in psychiatric diagnosis.

What earns the marks

• Identify the biomedical model's view of mental illness as a physical disease with biological causes.
• Recognise interactionist perspectives, such as labelling theory, which argue mental illness is a social construct.
• Identify the 'social drift' hypothesis as the idea that mental illness causes downward social mobility.
• Recognise that women are statistically more likely to be diagnosed with depression and anxiety than men.
• Identify institutional racism or cultural misunderstandings as sociological explanations for the over-representation of Black men in schizophrenia diagnoses.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Confusing social causation with social drift.

  Put it right: Social causation argues that lower-class status and poverty cause mental illness, whereas social drift argues that having a mental illness causes individuals to fall into a lower social class.

• Assuming the biomedical model and social constructionism are the same.

  Put it right: The biomedical model sees mental illness as an objective biological fact, while social constructionism sees it as a label applied by society to deviant behaviour.

• Believing that official statistics on mental illness perfectly reflect reality.

  Put it right: Sociologists argue that official statistics are socially constructed and may reflect diagnostic biases, such as gender or racial stereotyping by medical professionals.

Exam tips

• When evaluating the nature of mental illness, contrast the biomedical model with interactionist approaches like labelling theory.
• Use specific concepts like 'master status' and 'institutionalisation' when discussing Goffman's work on asylums.
• Always link the social distribution of mental illness to structural factors such as patriarchy, poverty, or institutional racism to demonstrate higher-level sociological understanding.