Sociology of Healthcare

Catalog description

This course provides an introduction to the sociology of health, illness, and healthcare in the United States. Students will examine how health, disease, and medical care are socially created and defined, and how social contexts influence these definitions. Some of the topics to be covered include health care reform, social sources of wellness, and a sociological analysis of the health care system and its practitioners. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to consider the diverse ways in which sex, race, ethnicity, social class and more broadly, power, affect health, illness, longevity, and healthcare.