ABSTRACT
Any society or group within society establishes norms of behavior to which its members are expected to conform. When people violate these norms, others express disapproval; deviants are ostracized, and if the violation is serious enough, they may be incarcerated or dealt some other form of physical punishment. Sickness is not just a biological condition; it is also a social role, the sick role, which is defined by social norms and expectations. Medicine as social control enters at a different point, namely, at the clinical, rather than research, arm of medicine. According to Parsons, sickness must be controlled to avoid its disruptive consequences for the functioning of social systems. The idea that people have a moral responsibility to preserve their health and avoid sickness is a growing idea in the United States. Since medical treatment is based on the scientific conception of disease, such treatment would presumably not be affected by nonscientific views of disease.
