SOCA3178
10 units
3000 level
Course handbook
Description
This course examines contemporary and historical debates over knowledge in health and medicine. It will focus on the social construction of knowledge and examine contested claims to truth and expertise in the fields of health and health care. The course will draw on contemporary sociological and anthropological theories of knowledge related to medical professional power, health and body ideals in the digital world and the social construction of mental illness.
Availability2024 Course Timetables
Callaghan
- Semester 2 - 2024
Online
- Semester 2 - 2024
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of the course students will be able to:
1. Formulate arguments about the relationships between medicine, knowledge and power.
2. Apply sociological theories to explain aspects of health discourses.
3. Identify and critically analyse the social, political and cultural conditions which give rise to health discourses.
4. Demonstrate an informed and critical understanding of key concepts employed across paradigms of medical knowledge.
5. Demonstrate high-level oral and written communication skills.
Content
Course content may include:
- Module 1, Medical Knowledge and Power, explores the connection between knowledge and power within three broad domains of health knowledge: legitimised, contested and subjugated knowledge. We will identify the social dimensions of debates and controversies over knowledge and evidence in lay and professional health contexts.
- Module 2, Wellness and Embodiment, considers how new platforms and industries, like the Wellness Industry, work through harnessing contested and marginalised knowledges and prioritise personal wellbeing. We will also discuss how health ideals and norms connect with gendered and beauty ideals, and the significance of the health influencer as a powerful actor in this space.
- Module 3, Mental Health, Regulation and Resistance, explores how social and cultural understandings of mental illness have developed across modernity focusing on the emergence of mental health institutions; the rise of psychiatry; the politics of mental health treatment; and more recently developed 'trauma informed' perspectives.
Assumed knowledge
40 units of study at 1000 level.
Assessment items
Presentation: Seminar Presentation
Written Assignment: Written assignment
In Term Test: Class test
Participation: Seminar Participation
Contact hours
Semester 2 - 2024 - Callaghan
Lecture-1
- Online 1 hour(s) per week(s) for 12 week(s)
Seminar-1
- Face to Face On Campus 1 hour(s) per week(s) for 12 week(s) starting in week 1
Semester 2 - 2024 - Online
Lecture-1
- Online 1 hour(s) per week(s) for 12 week(s)
Seminar-1
- Online 1 hour(s) per week(s) for 12 week(s)
Course outline
Course outline not yet available.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.