SOC08012 2022 Health, the Body and Society

Critique the main features of biomedicine

Explain the main theoretical underpinnings of the sociology of health and illness (Domains 1.18, 4.1)

Understand lay health beliefs, lifestyles and risk (Domains 1.15, 2.6, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 5.5, 5.7, 5.15, 5.17).

Conceptualise experiences of chronic illness and disability (Domains 1.8, 2.6, 2.16, 3.6, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 5.5, 5.7, 5.15, 5.17).

Delineate key debates in sociology of the body (Domains 2.6, 4.1, 4.3).

The module assessment allows for assessment of CORU Standards of Proficiency as follows:

There are two components to the assessment:

Class Presentation (Domains 1.8, 1.15, 1.18, 2.6, 2.16, 3.6, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 5.5, 5.7, 5.15, 5.17)

Case Study  (Domains 1.8, 1.15, 1.18, 2.6, 2.16, 3.6, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 5.5, 5.7, 5.15, 5.17)

Major essay.

This module builds upon previous modules concerned with understanding care, applied social policy, health and sociology. It aims to develop in students the ability to critique the neo-liberal emphasis on the individual as being entirely responsible for their health care, on the inequalities associated with health and on dominant assumptions in both the medical and social models of care. The module will focus on one main health care issue of much debate in contemporary Western societies and use it to frame the module and to examine the main elements of the sociology of health and illness: 'obesity'. We will also address the consequences of dominant understandings of health and illness for policy responses nationally and internationally. Students will be encouraged to select their own health issue and present a project on the topic.

The Social Construction of Medical Knowledge

Here students are introduced to the biomedical model underpinning Western medicine. We will address the assumptions under which this model has persisted including the mind/body dualism; the mechanical metaphor; the technological imperative; reductionism; and the doctrine of specific aetiology. Drawing from Foucault and feminist writings, we challenge these assumptions and explore how discourses and power have intersected to generate dominant paradigms.  

Lay Health Beliefs, Lifestyles and Risk

Lawton (2003) explains that while sociologists have long studies aspects of illness, it has only been relatively recently that they have turned their attention to the development of a sociology of health. However, there is much discussion in society today addressing questions on what is health, how can I be healthy, what is a healthy lifestyle? In this section, we explore the concept of health arguing that such exploration must take account of lay perspective. We also address ho people maintain health through an examination of lifestyles. Finally, a key facet of contemporary societies is a concern with risk. We explore definitions of risk drawing from Beck and Giddens and look at it's relationship to health status.

Experiences of Chronic Illness and Disability

Many argue that in Western industrialised societies, chronic conditions are becoming increasingly common. Such conditions have massive implications beyond biophysical changes. But biophysical changes have significant social consequences. In this section we examine how illness reminds us that the 'normal' functioning of our minds and bodies is central to social action and interaction (Nettleton, 2006:71). Sociologists have become increasingly concerned with experiences of illness where illness is seen as both a private trouble and of much public concern. We investigate two main ways sociologists have addressed chronic illness: functionalism and interpretivism. The former includes analysis of the 'sick role' and the latter draws explicitly from Arthur Frank (1995) narratives of illness.

The Sociology of the Body

The importance of the body to the sociology of health and illness is in many ways very obvious. Illness can limit the functioning of the body. Health is increasingly conceptualised in terms of body maintenance: dieting, exercising, avoidance of unhealthy products. Medical science has enabled individuals to completely alter the body in ways previously unimaginable. This section explores the tensions evident in how we regulate, manage, dispose of, display, work and look upon bodies. In particular, we return to a central theme in this module: how medical and scientific descriptions of the biological basis of bodies are socially constructed and may be used for ideological purposes such as maintaining of widespread inequalities in health.