SO 322
Sociology of Medicine
Spring, 2004
This course will give an overview of the sociology of medicine with the objective of giving upper level sociology students some understanding of how the discipline structures this sub-field. The course is not only more advanced than SOCI 130 but also is less meant as a general information course than a course for serious social science students. To that end, in addition to reading and discussing academic texts the class will engage in some collective research projects.
This class has an unusual structure because everything we do will be done in concert with ECON 312, Health Economics, taught by Prof. Amy Wolaver. We have synchronized our syllabi so that important topics in the social science approach to health and medicine will be covered each week from a sociological perspective in our class and from an economics perspective in Wolaver’s class. We have some students registered in both classes but students from both sides are encouraged to audit class sessions from the other discipline as your time allows. The instructors will attend both class sessions and we are confident that students from both disciplines will be able to handle material in both courses.
Course Resources:
Students in our course are doing community studies in Antrim and Danville and are doing a joint project with the AIDS Resource Alliance in Williamsport. In addition, students are doing individual projects on drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and individual projects on such things as international comparisons of health care systems. The course web site includes photoes and documents from our field studies as well as field notes and other materials. It is meant as a way for students to view and keep track of work others have done. It also provides resources for people in the communities where we are working.