Sociological Imagination & Disease Treatment

To a person from a Westernized country, illness or disease is a medical problem. For example, a person who is ill sees a doctor, undergoes medical tests, and then follows the doctor's instructions. It is not unusual to find patients battling the disease on their own.

For a friend from West Africa, however, the individual approach to battling disease is incomprehensible. He believes that illness is best addressed in a community context, with a patient surrounded by an army of friends and loved ones.

Wright Mills believed that people should locate themselves "within his period which he can know his own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in his circumstances." This involves developing a worldview which "understand(s) the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning of the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals" (Mills 5).

The development of the sociological imagination thus allows a Westernized person to understand the different cultural concepts regarding health and well-being. While people in the United States focus on health as a physical issue, others see health in a broader sense. As Malidoma Patrice Some notes, many tribes in Western Africa view "illness is a physical manifestation of spiritual decay" (73).

It is therefore impossible to treat disease merely by addressing chemical imbalances in the body, without regard to the spiritual imbalance that most likely brought about the illness. Diseases should thus be treated in the context of a community of supporters.

The sociological imagination thus allows us to understand the roots of cultural differences regarding disease, differences which are potential sources of friction. In addition, caretakers who develop a sociological imagination will thus be more sensitive to the health needs of a growing segment of the population.

Works Cited

Mills, Charles Wright. The Sociological Imagination. New York: Grove Press, 1961.

Some, Malidoma Patrice. The Healing Wisdom of Africa: Finding Life Purpose through Nature, Ritual and Community. New York: Putnam, 1998.