SOC 457 - Society and Health

(3 units) CO13

Analysis of the social determinants of health, including the way in which social structure produces varying patterns of health and illness.

Prerequisite(s): General Education courses (CO1-CO3) completed; at least 3 courses from CO4-CO8 completed; Junior or Senior standing; SOC 101.

Grading Basis: Graded
Units of Lecture: 3
Offered: Every Spring - Even Years

Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. outline inequalities in the distribution of physical health and illnesses in U.S. society according to social class, race, ethnicity, and gender.
2. describe, apply, compare, and contrast theoretical explanations of social inequalities in the distribution of physical health illnesses.
3. describe and apply stress process theory to explain how exposure to stressors and access to resources is rooted in society’s social structure, and how it in turn affects physical health and illness.
4. describe and explain, using a variety of theoretical explanations, how institutional life such as at work, in religious settings, and in neighborhoods, is related to physical health and illness.
5. discuss and illustrate the concept of medicalization using examples of socially constructed physical illness and analyze the social forces driving this phenomenon.

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