SOC 266 - Medical Sociology in Comparative Perspective

Health and illness are not evenly distributed across society. An individual’s income, education, and even number of friends can have profound effects on their risk of illness. Social network characteristics, socioeconomic status, and social capital have been associated with risk for everything from heart attacks to diabetes to the common cold. Further, because illness is a social concept, diseases are often understood and experienced in profoundly different ways across social contexts. This course will introduce you to the major ideas and texts in the sociology of health and medicine considered in comparative perspective. We will pay particular attention to the roles of inequality, race, gender, social stress, migration, religiosity, and institutional change in patterning health and illness in readings and discussion.

Satisfies a major requirement in Sociology

Satisfies an interdisciplinary minor requirement in Medical Humanities

Students entering 2012 and after: satisfies Social-Scientific Thought distribution requirement

Students entering before 2012: satisfies Social Science distribution requirement