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2010/1 Module Catalogue
 Module Code: SOC3002 Module Title: SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS
Module Provider: Sociology Short Name: SOC325
Level: HE3 Module Co-ordinator: EARTHY SM Dr (Sociology)
Number of credits: 20 Number of ECTS credits: 10
 
Module Availability

Year
Assessment Pattern
Two essays of 2,000 words (25% each) and one written examination (50%)
Module Overview

The module will explore empirical research and theoretical developments within this broad and rapidly changing field of sociology. The module aims to provide an understanding of diverse sociological approaches to the study of health and illness and the delivery of health care. We will also consider the influence of the media and internet on lay people’s knowledge of and response to medical science.

Prerequisites/Co-requisites
None
Module Aims
Learning Outcomes

Having completed the module, students should:

 

 

1.    Be familiar with a broad range of sociological approaches to understanding health and illness in society

 

 

2.        Have insight into contemporary issues in healthcare

 

 

3.        Recognise how and why the perspectives of patients and health care practitioners often differ

 

 

4.        Appreciate the complex mechanisms underlying inequalities in health.

 

 
Module Content

Areas covered will include:

 

·         The bio-medical model of illness and processes of medicalization

 

·         Illness behaviour

 

·         Social responses to illness

 

·         The doctor-patient relationship

 

·         Inequalities in health

 

·         Lay concepts of health and illness and perceptions of risk

 

·         Chronic illness

 

·         Models of disability

 

·         Mental health and mental illness

 

·         The organisation and delivery of health care

 

·         Alternative and complementary therapies

 

·         The sociology of the body

 

·         Pregnancy and reproduction

 

·         Death, dying and bereavement

 
Methods of Teaching/Learning

Lectures
Selected Texts/Journals

Annandale , E. (1998), The Sociology of Health and Illness: A Critical Introduction, Polity Press.

 

Charmaz, K. (1991) Good Days, Bad Days: The Self in Chronic Illness and Time, Rutgers University Press.

 

Friedson, E. (1976) The Profession of Medicine, Penguin.

 

Nettleton, S. (2005), The Sociology of Health and Illness, 2nd Edition, Polity.

 

Scambler, G. and Higgs, P. (eds) (1998) Modernity, Medicine and Health: Medical Sociology towards 2000, Routledge.

 

Turner, B. and Stanley B (1995), Medical Power and Social Knowledge, Sage.

 

Williams, S.J., Gabe, J. and Calnan, M. (eds) (2000) Health, Medicine and Society: Key Theories, Future Agendas, Routledge.

 

 
Last Updated

September 2010