SOC-20044: Human Health and Society

School of Sociology and Criminology

SOC-20044

Human Health and Society

Co-ordinator:

Dr Dana Rosenfeld Room: CBC0.016, Tel:33932

Teaching Team:

Ms Deborah Tagg, Dr Andy Zieleniec, Miss Jo-Anne Watts, Miss Claire Lewendon, Garry Crawford

Lecture Time:

See Timetable...

Level:

2

Credits:

15

150

School Office:

Programme/Approved Electives for

Sociology Dual Honours (Level 2)
Sociology Major (Level 2)
Sociology Minor (Level 2)
Sociology Single Honours (Level 2)

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Yes

Barred Combinations

none

None

Description

Over the last one hundred years, the average human life expectancy of people living in industrialized societies has effectively doubled, mortality rates have dropped, and the leading cause of death has changed from infectious to degenerative disease. While modern medicine has claimed credit for this revolution in health, sociologists and historians have shown it to be the result of changes in social structure and social life. Similarly, while medical and epidemiological explanations of differences in the life expectancy of specific groups tend to ignore sociological issues such as social inequality and social solidarity, sociologists have argued that these inequalities cannot be explained without reference to social context.

The course is divided into three main sections. The first focuses on modern medicine and public health as ideologies and as institutions of social control, and briefly introduces alternative sociological models to health. The second challenges bio-medicine's claim that the radical improvement in health that occurred in the late 19th-early twentieth century was due to medical and public health efforts; and examines the social basis of the revolution in health, focusing on the relation between changes in health and changes in social structure that characterized the 19th century. The third examines current health inequalities in the West from a sociological perspective, and explains them by reference to the epidemiological (health behaviours) and sociological (stress, social relations, and social inequality) literatures on health.

The lectures will focus on
Introduction to the Sociology of Health
The Medical Model and its Detractors
Medicine as an Agent of Social Control
The Epidemiological Transition
The Epidemiological Transition continued
Health Inequalities: The Evidence
Explaining Health Inequalities I: Health Behaviours
Explaining Health Inequalities II: Stress, Social Relations and Survival
Explaining Health Inequalities III: Social Inequality
Conclusion

Formative Assessment and Tutorial Activities
Students complete various exercises related to the sociology of health in seminar time

To enhance students ability to link concepts and evidence in social science and within a broadly comparative framework
To introduce students to key concepts and theories in the sociology of health and illness, and to develop an appreciation of the social production and organization of ill-health
To provide opportunities through seminar discussion and essay in which students may develop their skills of scholarly discussion and exposition of complex ideas

Intended Learning Outcomes

Analyse the constructedness of health and illness in a variety of social contexts. will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
Explain how class, sex, and ethnicity affect health and illness in diverse and complex ways.
will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
Discuss a range of arguments about the nature, origins, and distribution of health and illness. will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
Discuss the value of statistical evidence for understanding the social causes of health and illness and deploy this evidence to support critical argumentation. will be achieved by assessments: 2
Analyse theories of the social production of knowledge and show how these are implicated in our understandings and experiences of health and illness. will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2

20 contact hours (2 hour compulsory weekly seminar)
60 hours seminar preparation
70 hours assessment preparation

Description of Module Assessment

01: Poster Presentation weighted 30%

4-page poster plus references
Students produce a poster about health promotion and/or public health discourse using historical and/or contemporary materials.

02: Essay weighted 70%

2000-word essay based on a choice of essay topic distributed at the outset of the semester
Students will write an essay based on an essay question they select from a total of 9 questions distributed at the outset of the term. Answers will need to use materials and perspectives covered in the module lectures and readings.

Version: (1.06B) Updated: 03/Mar/2013

This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.