Syllabus (SOCIOLOGY)

Course Type: MAJ-16

Semester: 8

Course Code: BSOCMAJ16T

Course Title: Sociology of Health and Medicine

(L-P-Tu): 3-0-1

Credit: 4

Practical/Theory: Theory

Course Objective: One major objective of this course is to focus on the interfaces between body and society having deep implications for the health and illness of the individuals. Another objective is to sensitise the students about the comprehensive nature of health that

Learning Outcome: One important learning outcome of this course is that it should help the students grow their analytical and theoretical understanding of the social, cultural, economic and political factors behind the present health conditions of the social actors and the

Contents of the Course

1. Introduction to the Sociology of Health and Medicine

Sociology of body; Conceptualising health, illness and disease; Epidemics and pandemics; Sociology of ‘disability’

2. Theoretical Orientations to Illness and Medicine

Functionalist perspective (Talcott Parsons)

Discourse and power approach (Michel Foucault)

3. Sociological Dimensions of Health and Illness

Class

Gender

4. Health Care and Medical Practices

Medical practices: Modern, Alternative and Ethno medicines; Health Care Systems; Health care in India: Changing patterns

5. Care of the Mental Health

Mental health and mental illness; Psychiatry and society;

Counselling – Idea and practice

Readings and References

1. Turner, Bryan S. 1995. Medical Power and Social Knowledge. London, Sage Publications.
2. Turner, Bryan S. 1996. The Body and Society. London: Sage Publications.
3. Talcott Parsons.1951. The Social System. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.
4. Foucault, Michel. 1994. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. London: Routledge.
5. Foucault, Michel. 1994. The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception. New York: Vintage Books.
6. Sujatha, V. 2014. Sociology of Health and Medicine: New Perspectives. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
7. Baer, Hans A., Merrill Singer and Ida Susser .1997. Medical Anthropology and the World System. Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Gravey.
8. Inhorn, Marcia. 2006. ‘Defining Women’s Health: A Dozen Messages from More than 150 Ethnographies, in Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Vol. 20(3): 345-378.
9. Banerji, Debabar. 1985. ‘The Political Economy of Western Medicine in Third World Countries’, in John McKinlay (ed.): Issues in the Political Economy of Healthcare. New York: Tavistock.
10. Annandale, Ellen.1988. The Sociology of Health and Medicine: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.
11. Kuhlmann, Ellen and Ellen Annandale (eds.). 2010. The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Healthcare. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
12. Cockerham, William C. (ed.) 2005. The Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology. Malden MA, USA: Blackwell.
13. Cockerham, William C. (ed.) 2016. The New Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
14. Nelson, James Lindermann and Hilde Lindermann Nelson (eds.): Meaning and Medicine: A Reader in the Philosophy of Healthcare. New York: Routledge.
15. Boorse, Christopher.1975. ‘On the Distinction between Disease and Illness’, in Philosophy & Public Affairs, 5 (1): 49-68.
16. Gould, Harold A. I965. ‘Modern Medicine and Folk Cognition in Rural India’, in Human Organization, 24 (3): 201- 208.
17. Qadeer, Imrana. 2011. Public Health in India. Delhi: Daanish Books.

18. Tony Bilton et al. 1987. Introductory Sociology. New York: Palgrave.
19. Giddens, Anthony. 2009. Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
20. Macionis, John J. 2018. Sociology (Global Edition). London: Pearson.
21. Rabinow, Paul (ed.). 1984. The Foucault Reader: An Introduction to Foucault’s Thought. London: Penguin.
22. Mills, Sara. 2004. Michel Foucault. London: Routledge.
23. Mills, Sara. 2007. Discourse. London: Routledge.
24. Jones, Pip. 2003. Introducing Social Theory. Cambridge: Polity Press.
25. Nagla, Madhu (ed.). 2013. Sociology of Health (Readings in Indian Sociology, Vol. 4). New Delhi: Sage Publications.
26. Chakravarty, Tina. 2015. ‘Interface in Approaches to Mental Disorder in India: A Sociological Analysis’, in Sociological Bulletin, 64(2): 197-218.
27. Dak, T. M. 1991. Sociology of Health in India. Jaipur: Rawat Publications.
28. Corey, Gerald. 2008. Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy. Pacific Groves, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.