WILLIAM J. CHAMBLISS: For a long timesociology and the health and medical fieldswent their separate ways.[William J. Chambliss George Washington University]

WILLIAM J. CHAMBLISS: Today, it is widelyaccepted that sociology can contributeto the understanding of mental and physical healthand illness, social group disparities in health,the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS, and issueslike rising rates of obesity and falling rates of teen pregnancyand birth.These are all issues that we take up in Chapter 15.

DIANA S. EGLITIS: Sociologists may take an interest in issuesrelated to public health.[Diana S. Elgitis George Washington University]

DIANA S. EGLITIS: Public health is the science and practiceof health protection and maintenanceat a community level.Professor Chambliss noted two important public health issuesthat are also of interest to sociologists, obesityand teen pregnancy and births.In this video, we will be discussing a third onecigarette smoking

WILLIAM J. CHAMBLISS: Our chapter looks at smokingthrough a sociological lens.As a widespread and globally growing phenomenon,it is an interesting topic to consider sociologically.Today, about a fifth of Americans smoke tobacco,and tobacco is the number-one cause of premature deathin the United States.

WILLIAM J. CHAMBLISS [continued]: So what might a sociologist say about this phenomenonof widespread tobacco use?

DIANA S. EGLITIS: Remember that conflict theorists applythe question, who benefits, to social institutionsand phenomena.We can do this with smoking too.So who benefits from smoking?

WILLIAM J. CHAMBLISS: Smoking offers pleasure to many people.But its benefits tend to be dwarfed by its consequences,including disease, addiction and financial costs.Tobacco companies, however, clearlybenefit from those who buy their goods and the recruitmentof new smokers-- men and boys, women and girls--

WILLIAM J. CHAMBLISS [continued]: to replace those who die or quit.Their profitability also ensures them a powerful political voicethat helps make sure the continuingavailability of a product known to be a health hazard.

DIANA S. EGLITIS: Is the phenomenon of cigarettesmoking also positively functional?A functionalist might suggest that, in fact, it is positivelyfunctional in its creation of jobs, whichrange from tobacco farmers, to marketersand lobbyists for the tobacco cause,and in its contribution to rural economies that dependon income from farming tobacco.

DIANA S. EGLITIS [continued]: Tobacco has also had economic functions historically.During the Revolutionary War, profits from the tobacco tradewere used to finance the revolutionby serving as collateral for loansprovided to Americans from France.Of course, dysfunctions include poor personaland community health.Can you think of other sociological functions

DIANA S. EGLITIS [continued]: or dysfunctions?

WILLIAM J. CHAMBLISS: Symbolic interactioniststake an interest in the social meaning that objects take on.We can look at cigarette smoking through this lens.For instance, for a teenager, a cigaretteis more than just a pinch of tobacco rolled in paper.Smoking a cigarette can represent

WILLIAM J. CHAMBLISS [continued]: an assertion of rebelliousness, adulthood, or coolness.What other meanings can smoking take onin society or in particular communities or social groups?

DIANA S. EGLITIS: Viewing cigarette smokingthrough a theoretical lens let's us see it as more than justan individual choice or action unconnectedto the social world, its institutions, and its symbols.As we'll see in this chapter, sociologyoffers us new ways of seeing and analyzingissues of health and medicine.So let's begin.