Medicine and Society (SOCI 469)
What does sociology have to say about health and illness, the health professions, or the organization of healthcare? Perhaps more than you would expect! Health is a relatively scarce and highly valued commodity, which, like wealth, education, or power, is socially--and very unequally--distributed in this country (as well as others). Health behavior, like all other behavior, is a product of social norms and cultural traditions. What people eat, where they exercise, how they perceive and react to pain, their willingness to adhere to doctor's orders--none of these occur independently of social forces. Thus, issues of health and illness are by no means exclusive to the traditional medical professions; social science is now recognized as a critical tool needed to understand individual and population health patterns.
Course
English
3 Credit Hours
