SOC20460

Course content: This module introduces students to social theory in medical sociology. It does this by exploring sociological factors that impinge on health status, health chances and health care. It looks at concepts of health and illness, the social context of health and illness as well as changing patterns of health and illness, and the social organisation of both formal and informal health care. This also includes a critical analysis of formal Western biomedical approaches to health and health care. A number of theoretical positions are considered ranging from Functionalist, Marxist and neo-Marxist perspectives through to Postmodern, Realist and Critical Realist perspectives and the relevance of these in medicine and health care. These are applied to key substantive areas covered in the module.

Indicative content:
Historical, sociological and cross-cultural concepts of health and illness. The relationship between health, cultural beliefs and practices; Lay and professional interpretations of health and illness in contemporary society; Problems in measuring health and illness; The social character of health and illness; The relationship between health beliefs and health behaviour; disability, labeling and social stigma; Death dying and bereavement; The professionalisation of treatment and care; Interactions between health consumers and health professionals; Changing patterns of morbidity and mortality in the western and developing worlds. Formal and informal medicine.

Learning Outcomes:
Objectives: By the end of the course students should be able to demonstrate an
awareness of the problems of conceptualising health and illness and the implications
of such problems, show an appreciation of key theoretical approaches within
sociology to the study of health, illness and health care, understand the relationship
between states of health and social forces, appreciate the relationship between
professional, health, disease and society and compare and contrast historical,
sociological and anthropological perspectives of health and illness.