Trakia Journal of Sciences, Vol. 19, Suppl. 1, 2021 49 Trakia Journal of Sciences, Vol. 19, Suppl. 1, pp 49-56, 2021 Copyright © 2021 Trakia University Available online at: http://www.uni-sz.bg ISSN 1313-3551 (online) doi:10.15547/tjs.2021.s.01.007 ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH LIFESTYLES: STRUCTURAL AND INTERSECTIONAL ASPECTS OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS IN MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY N. Georgieva-Stankova* Regional Development Department, Economics Faculty, Trakia University, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria ABSTRACT Purpose and Methods: The paper traces the effects of the environment and other structural factors on individual health and illness, as analysed theoretically by Medical Sociology. More particularly, it focuses on the interplay between structural factors in sociology and individual agency, i.e. the extent to which one’s health is a matter of personal choice or affected by macrosocial factors, such as living conditions, social status, race/ethnicity, gender, age and etc. Results: An imaginary debate between an expanded economic view on health (Becker 1979) and a sociological perspective (Cockerham 2013) is staged to weigh out different standpoints and the insistence on the primacy of either of the factors. William Cockerham’s health lifestyles (2013) is analysed (an extension of the traditions of Max Weber and Pierre Bourdieu), as an interplay between life chances and life choices, stressing the primacy of structural factors, without disregarding individual agency, however, within the confines of particular structural restrictions. Discussion and conclusion: Criticism of Becker’s economic health perspective is provided. Additionally, the intersectionality of structural factors is examined and their mutual co-determination. Finally, a claim is made for the need to connect environmental health with preventive medicine. Key words: environment, health lifestyles, Medical Sociology, structure and agency, intersectionality INTRODUCTION Socio-economic and ecological factors are inherently related to individual health and social wellbeing. The Covid-19 pandemic has made explicit more than ever our health’s dependence on external, ecological factors, the cost of human violations of the environment, the vulnerability of particular social groups, as well as the mutual interconnectedness of individuals in terms of disease spread and prevention. MATERIALS AND METHODS Medical Sociology is the discipline that studies the effects of environmental and other structural factors on individual and group health. Some of __________________________ *Correspondence to: Nadezhda Georgieva- Stankova, Economics Faculty, Trakia University, Student Campus 6000; telephone: +359 42 699 413; e-mail: nadezhda.georgieva@trakia-uni.bg the key questions it engages in in recent years have been related to the interplay between social structure and individual agency, i.e. the extent to which one’s health can be treated as a matter of personal choice or affected by macrosocial factors, such as living conditions, social status, race/ethnicity, gender, age and etc. The purpose of the article is to explore theoretically this problem by comparing paradigmatic differences between two disciplines: Health Economics and Medical Sociology, with an emphasis on the existing ones within Medical Sociology. For this end, an imaginary debate between an expanded economic view on health (Becker 1979)(1) and a sociological perspective (Cockerham 2013)(2) will be staged to weigh out different standpoints concerning the primacy of either of these factors. William Cockerham’s health lifestyles (2013)(2) will be analysed (an extension of the traditions of Max Weber and Pierre Bourdieu), as an interplay