Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The sick role was a formulation by Talcott Parsons that posited four institutionalized behavioral expectations that attached to people defined as “sick.” For about three decades, from the early 1950s to about 1980, it was the central focus of many sociologists who studied medical care. It received a large amount of criticism as well as uncritical use and became passé when Parsons's theory fell out of favor and sociology turned toward a more critical and conflict-oriented approach to theorizing. On the surface, it is quite simple and straightforward. 1 Sick people are expected to be exempt from normal role obligations. That exemption is limited and conditional. It is limited in the sense that one cannot claim exemption beyond some limit on one's own authority. At some point the right to exemption will have to be legitimated by someone with authority. It is conditional on the obligations of the sick role being fulfilled and by the “nature and severity of the condition.” 2 Sick people are expected to be “not responsible” for their condition in the sense that they cannot get well by an act of motivation alone. The sick person “needs help” and has a claim on the larger community for care. It is important, in the light of subsequent criticisms, to note that this right does not attach to the onset of the condition, but to its continuation. Even if the condition arose because ... log in or subscribe to read full text