medicine bottles - outport Newfoundland c. early 1900s

Sociology 3307 (Health) Online:

Abbreviated course overview / Cohen



The Sociology of Health is an academic exploration of the social meaning and construction of health. Designed for third year Sociology students, it is also useful for practitioners in health care and ‘lay’ persons interested in health related research.

After reviewing the academic perspectives and social determinants of health at the beginning of this course, we examine the social constructions and cultural discourses of the body, health, illness and disablement. We consider how cultural representations and iconographies parley our material realities and how the experiences of health, illness, pain and dis/ablement lead to personal growth or stigmatization and social exclusion. The latter sections of the course take a more institutional approach and students have some choices in their readings.

Required texts

During the semester, you will read MOST of:

Juanne Nancarrow Clarke's (2021) Health, Illness, and Medicine in Canada, 8th ed. Toronto: Oxford University Press.

ISBN: Print ISBN: 9780199035908

eText ISBN: 9780199035939
;

Health, Illness and Medicine in Canada, 8th ed.

You may also be working with two designated chapters from Deborah Lupton's Medicine as Culture: Illness, Disease and the Body in Western Societies (2nd or 3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. NOTE: The 2003 edition of this text is available online at the QE II library.

Additional journal articles and online readings are used extensively and are available through the MUN library catalogue and at the Reserve site assigned to this course.

Course evaluation

2 or 3 small assignments (due dates will be announced) 25%
Midterm examination (Week 6 or later) 25%
Weekly discussion activties 25%
Final examination (during the designated exam period) 25%


There is a Weekly Discussion listed for 9 of the course modules, with scheduled due dates. Students are required to complete 7 of the 9 for the potential 25% discussion grade. Each discussion is related to the reading for the relevant week and is designed to help develop and refine academic skills in critical thinking and analysis.

The midterm exam is scheduled for sometime during or after Week 6 and will cover all of the material for modules one to five. The final exam is on the material from modules 8/9, 11, 12, 13. The other modules / weeks are for assignments.

Details of the assignments will be posted in the Brightspace course content and discussed throughout the semester.

Communication

Communication is especially important for distance education students and there are a number of ways to contact me. I am available anytime on the course specific D2L/ Brightspace site by email or posting. Students can also reach me by phone during any working day and on a specific evening each week. Details on this are sent to registered students on the course specific website.

A pdf of the compiled statistics from the CEQs for this course up to 2019 (when CEQ administration ended) is available here. Feel free to email me (Linda Cohen) with any questions you have. Other addresses:



MUN's home page

Department of Sociology, MUN

Centre for Innovation in Teaching and Learning





©Linda Cohen, 2022 (since 2003)