This chapter will help you do the following:

1. Provide examples of health at the societal level. Illustrate how health issues impact us at the micro, meso, and macro levels.

2. Use the symbolic interaction perspective to show that illness is a social construction.

3. Describe the role of the sick person.

4. Explain modern hospitals as complex organizations with bureaucratic features.

5. Describe how globalization influences health care issues at micro, meso, and macro levels.