The article that I choose to use for this assignment was "The Measurement of Meaning in Illness" by Betsy L. Fife. I was assigned chapter 5, which dealt with the social meaning of illness. The chapter explored the idea of illness as a form of social control and considers the various models of illness and how they have changed over time.

The Sociological model of illness refers to the subjective judgment regarding the meaning of the condition or behavior. It defines illness by defining its abnormal and undesirable affects. Illness is also shown to be a social construction, or something that exists in the world because we have defined it as existing rather than it being an objective condition. This means that labeling a condition an illness will reflect the perceived undesirable affects of that condition. Therefor, when we label a person as ill, we are labeling them as undesirable. Illness is defined in terms of social norms which are expectations within a given culture regarding proper behavior or appearance. From the sociological standpoint, illness is a form of deviance. Deviance refers to the behaviors or conditions that socially powerful persons within the culture

perceive either accurately or inaccurately as immoral or as violating social norms.. Violations of social norms result in the enforcement of negative social sanctions, or any form of punishment from ridicule to execution. These social sanctions are enforced by social control agents such as parents, police, doctors and teachers.

The Medical model of illness is used in the medical world to declare something an illness. According to the medical model an illness is a deviation from normal, specific and universal, caused by unique biological factors, analogous to the breakdown of a machine and defined and treated medically through neutral scientific processes. This model encourages doctors to search for the source of problems within the individuals body rather than within the broader social environment. This model also reinforces the social power of medicine.

The author used information from questionnaires of 422 persons diagnosed with cancer. The individuals were assessed using questionnaires. The individuals ranged from age 18 - 80, with average age being 52. 158 of the individuals were men and 264 were women. 12 percent came from low socioeconomic status and the remainder came from middle or upper socioeconomic status. The author measured variables that have been previously determined to be associated with meaning and also significant in terms of coping and adaptation. The first was emotional distress. This was measured using Bipolar Profile of mood states which has a demonstrated validity and reliability. This test measured the individuals mood and was used because the author felt that people coping with cancer experience both positive and negative emotions. She also used a ways of coping checklist to assess the specific strategies that individuals used to cope with the negative impact cancer had on their lives. Another measurement was take

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1253
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)