Why did Rudolph Virchow, one of the founding fathers of medical sociology, famously say, “medicine is a social science and politics is nothing else but medicine on a large scale. Medicine as a social science, as the science of human beings, has the obligation to point out problems and to attempt their theoretical

Political Science by Geoffrey

Assignment 2 (20 pts)

Health disparities (i.e. differences in health outcomes across populations) across a wide variety of health conditions and for a wide variety of human groups are pervasive in the United States and elsewhere in the world. Using concepts explored in the readings related to intersectionality theory in addition to course texts, select a health issue and a group of people who experience health disparities around that issue. For your chosen issue, please answer the following:

  1. What is the health issue, and why do disparities in health outcomes exist for the population you’ve selected? Provide an overview of the magnitude and importance of your topic (5 points).
  2. Using an intersectional approach, examine some of the “upstream” structural factors or social determinants that shape disparities in health outcomes (5 points). Why do disparities exist in the first place?
  3. Using some of the concepts and perspectives we’ve explored in class, what are some possible solutions to your chosen issue (5 points)?
  4. Why did Rudolph Virchow, one of the founding fathers of medical sociology, famously say, “medicine is a social science and politics is nothing else but medicine on a large scale. Medicine as a social science, as the science of human beings, has the obligation to point out problems and to attempt their theoretical