Syllabus
UNE Summer Session
SOC 355: Medical Sociology – 6 Weeks
Credits - 3
Description
Illness and death are not random occurrences, but, rather, they occur in specific societal, historical, and cultural contexts. Different cultures and societies, in other words, produce different patterns of death and illness, demonstrating that illness/wellness cannot be reduced to individual pathology or misfortune, but are in part social and cultural phenomena. Sociological inquiry considers the importance of social and cultural factors in determining health, and, using a range of methodologies (including comparative, epidemiological, narrative, etcetera) investigate how social and cultural forces have concrete consequences for everyday people; including: their health, their sense of self, their understanding and experiencing of their bodies, their interactions with healthcare systems, and more.
Thus, this course on the sociology of medicine is not confined to the narrow examination of the formal institution of ‘medicine’, but is concerned with all those cultural and societal aspects of life which impinge upon well-being through the life course. Throughout this course we will examine how specific cultural and social arrangements can make us sicker, we’ll explore how increased social capital and social cohesion increase health, and we will consider the consequences of a dominant biomedical model of medicine which dominates in the industrial world. In addition, we will examine how discourses of health and wellness shape our attitudes toward our bodies and selves, how these narratives also impact our routine behaviors, from what we eat to where we choose to go when we are sick, and will also explore how other social institutions and globalizing processes may be changing the way we approach and practice healthcare.
Materials
Learning Objectives and Outcomes
This course is designated as an Advanced (ADV) course as part of the core curriculum.
- To identify and apply central theories, concepts and methods integral to the sociology of medicine
- To analyze the role of culture and social structures of race, class, and gender on health
- To describe and apply social epidemiology to understand patterns of morbidity and mortality
To analyze some of the consequences of increased medicalization within society.
Assignments
Assessment
Essay 25 points
Journal 25 points
Exam One 20 points
Exam Two 15 points
Class Participation 15 points
Grade Scale
| Grade | Points Grade | Point Average (GPA) |
| A | 94 – 100% | 4.00 |
| A- | 90 – 93% | 3.75 |
| B+ | 87 – 89% | 3.50 |
| B | 84 – 86% | 3.00 |
| B- | 80 – 83% | 2.75 |
| C+ | 77 – 79% | 2.50 |
| C | 74 – 76% | 2.00 |
| C- | 70 – 73% | 1.75 |
| D | 64 – 69% | 1.00 |
| F | 00 – 63% | 0.00 |
Schedule
Part One: Concepts, Contexts, and Culture
Week One
- Introduction: introduce yourselves on the discussion forum!
- Leading Causes of Death in the USA
Read articles on Leading Cause of Death
Review brief power point slides
Read the following article, ‘Live free and die?’ The sad state of U.S. life expectancy from NPR and listen to the short radio clip Scientists warned a decade ago American lives were shortening. Then it got worse: Shots – Health News from NPR.
Journal Prompt: Personal reflection what is most noteworthy from the article and radio clip? Can you connect any of what is discussed to your own lives/experiences?
- The Body in Context: the biological consequences of the social
Read articles on Fetal Origins Research and Leukemia
Review and respond to questions – sharing answers to the discussion board
- Race, Health, and Medicine
- https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/advan.00196.2017
- https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/how-racism-creeps-into-medicine/378618/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1924616/
- https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/03/19/587249339/black-and-latino-children-are-often-overlooked-when-it-comes-to-autism
- http://bostonreview.net/wonders/anne-fausto-sterling-race-medical-school
- https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/01/03/676039371/emergency-medical-responders-confront-racial-bias
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/17/black-babies-survival-black-doctors-study
- https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/2020/sep/beyond-case-count-disparities-covid-19-united-states?gclid=CjwKCAiAlfqOBhAeEiwAYi43F0jlVecOFuOFjR-tyP3QYcnC5CUWGHVxUr_9oKyaINnCpGSit1iV5hoCRCQQAvD_BwE
Read articles related to race, gender, health, and medicine
Formal Journal Prompt: How does race and racism impact Covid-19?
Week Two
- Themes and Perspectives on the Sociology of Health and Illness: (Weitz: Chapter 1; Nettleton: Chapter 1).
Watch documentary Unnatural Causes
Review Power Point Presentation
Informal Journal Prompt: How does culture impact health/perceptions of health?
Share responses after watching Unnatural Causes on the Discussion Board
Paper on Social and Cultural Forces Due
Week Three
Part Two: Health and Illness in Social Contexts
- Social Epidemiology and the limits of biomedicine (Weitz: pgs 19-25)
- Health Disparities and The Embodiment of Inequality: Fundamental Cause Theory and The Spirit Level (Weitz: Chapter 3; Nettleton: Chapter 7; Phelan et al, on Brightspace)
Review slides and view zoom lecture
Watch TedTalk related to the Spirit Level https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson_how_economic_inequality_harms_societies?language=en
Formal Prompt: Fundamental Cause Theory, Epidemiology, and Covid-19
- Food Distribution and Consumption (Freund: Chapter 3; articles on Bright Space)
Review slides and view zoom lecture
Week Four
- The Environment and Health (Brown in Bird et al: Chapter 10; Freund: Chapter 3 continued).
Review slides
Watch Documentary: Place Matters
Review and respond to questions on the documentary – share answers to the discussion board.
- Social Stress (Simon in Bird et al: Chapter 5; Weitz: 43-48).
Review slides and view zoom lecture
Informal Journal Prompt: Social Connections and Social Stress
- Exam One
Review practice exam questions
Exam One
Week Five
Part Three: The Medicalization of Society
August 5th
- Medicine, Media, and Popular culture (Weitz: Chapter 5).
- http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2001/03/drug.html; http://nymag.com/nymetro/health/features/3122/
- TV show: House MD
Review articles and watch an episode of House MD
Respond to questions on House MD and popular culture: share on discussion board
- The Social Construction of knowledge: From boisterous kids to the ADHD kid (Conrad: Chapters 1 & 3).
Week Six
- Social Control, Technologies of the Self, and the Medicalization of Deviance
Review slides and watch zoom lecture presentations
Review practice exam questions
Formal Journal Prompt: Social control and Covid-19 – formal and informal mechanisms of social control
Exam 2: FINAL
Completed Journal Due
Student Resources
Accommodations
Any student who would like to request, or ask any questions regarding, academic adjustments or accommodations must contact the Student Access Center at (207) 221-4438 or pcstudentaccess@une.edu. Student Access Center staff will evaluate the student's documentation and determine eligibility of accommodation(s) through the Student Access Center registration procedure.
Online Peer Support
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Information Technology Services (ITS)
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Summer Session Online Student Support
Your Student Support Specialist is a resource for you. Please don't hesitate to contact them for assistance, including, but not limited to course planning, current problems or issues in a course, technology concerns, or personal emergencies.
Questions? Email: summersessiononline@une.edu.
Instructor and Support Contact Information
Check Brightspace for specific instructor and support specialist contact information.
UNE Libraries
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Further Assistance
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To request an accommodation a student needs to go through the process with our UNE office. If the student has a current/already established accommodation in place with UNE it is the responsibility of the student to notify the program at summersessiononline@une.edu to ensure it is applied properly.
If you need to inquire about a possible accommodation, please reach out to the Student Access Center by calling 207-221-4418 or send an email to pcstudentaccess@une.edu.
Policies
Summer Session & Academic Engagement Policy
Online students are required to submit a graded assignment/discussion prior to Sunday evening at 11:59 pm EDT of the first week of the term. If a student does not submit a posting to the graded assignment/discussion by 11:59 pm EDT on Sunday of the first week, the student will be automatically dropped from the course for non-participation. Review the Student Summer Session Manual for full details.
Proctored Examinations
Your course may have proctored exams. Please see the course for the exact exam requirements, test-taker guidance, proctoring format, and allowances (such as calculators or whiteboards, as indicated in the course).
Information about exam attempts can be found in your course.
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Course Length
A schedule of lectures and assignments is included in this syllabus.
Courses in the program are equivalent to one-semester courses designed to be completed in 6 or 12 weeks.
- Enrollment in the course begins the day your section opens which is listed in the Academic Calendar.
- Course due dates, start and end dates are in respect to Eastern Time.
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Please review the policies in your confirmation email. Contact summersessiononline@une.edu with any questions.
Grade Policy
Students are expected to attempt and complete all graded assignments and proctored exams by the end date of the course.
Transcripts
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Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:
- Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
- Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
- Action which destroys or alters the work of another student.
- Multiple submission of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission of each instructor.
- Plagiarism, the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own.
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