Sociology of Health and Illness

During the Sociology of Health and Illness course, emphasis will be placed on how sociology contributes to the interpretive/critical understanding of issues of health, illness and the sick body. At the same time, we will focus on empirical examples that explore the ways in which human experience is structured and given meaning, especially when it is aligned around issues of the sick body, chronicity, unpleasant or borderline experiences (near life and death). Through selected theoretical and research texts of this tradition, issues such as the patient's relationship with the medical institution, the importance of the family environment, the rearrangement of everyday life, the biographical rupture, the choice of treatment, the experience of illness, etc. will be studied. The course is structured in the form of weekly lectures around the individual thematic units, which are described in detail in the overall outline of the course, which is posted on the department's website. In the context of these meetings, the legacy and the theoretical and empirical extensions of this sociological tradition (from the biomedical model to the post-positivist critique) are presented and, through the use of multiple forms of evidence and evidentiary material, the contribution of each individual school is analyzed, also in relation to qualitative research. Thus, extensive use is made of printed, visual and audio material from the fields of current events, but also from the past, depending on the topic under investigation (e.g. presentation of the self, chronically ill people, social stigmatization, social and cultural significance of diagnosis, relationships and interactions in hospitals, gender dimension of illness, etc.). Films with corresponding content are also shown to facilitate discussion and exchange of views among students. In addition to the above, small work groups are created that undertake to critically investigate and present various issues of applied research on these issues from various perspectives. Finally, students are encouraged to present their own "lived experiences" as an occasion for a broader discussion on theoretical, research, ethical and moral issues that touch on these sensitive social fields and spaces of social experience.