Cultural Perspective on Concepts of Health and Illness in Contemporary Societies.

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The aim of this research project is sociological analysis for socio-cultural construction of health and illness concepts of ordinary people in contemporary Japanese society. And the practical goal is an academic contribution to establish theoretical background of medical communication between professional sector and layman's sector. We applid some qualitative and ethnographical methods to health-related advertisings, conversation in ordinary and clinical settings, and political discourses in states level.Two theoretical frameworks are adopted and tested in following sentences. Hypothesis (1) : The ordinary concept of health and illness experiences is socio-culturally constructed in their life courses. Hypothesis (2) : The ordinary concept of health and illness experiences would be analyzed in two intervening constructive social process ; individual subjective process of physiologically somatic experience, so called "body experience", and public objective process of cognitive experience, so called "public cognitive experience."The results are in itemized in following sentences. Result (1) : Even we recognize the importance of public health promotion, we cannot ignore culturally formed cognitive process of "body experience" contributing to construct the concept of health and illness. Result (2) : In Japan, the decline of authority of formal education is emerging public and political issue in contemporary, We are confronting the dilemma between toralistic health promotion and establishment of socially sound medical communication for "health as wholeness."