Sociology of Health

Sociologia da Saúde

Course code:68108

Luís Gouveia

Learning outcomes of the curricular unit:

Our aim is for students to acquire a set of basic sociological knowledge about the processes and social logics that structure individual and collective behavior in many spheres of everyday life and particularly in health and disease. Specifically, it is intended that they can identify and interpret how the socio-cultural factors intervene in the perceptions and attitudes towards body, health, and disease, and that they also develop the ability to identify and manage these factors in their professional practices. Thus, the aim is that at the end of the course students will have acquired the cognitive and instrumental skills to:

• Identify the relevant social specificities in the field of health;
• Integrate the different socio-cultural variables in their model of professional relationship;
• Learn to develop appropriate strategies for promoting social quality in their professional practice.

Syllabus:

1. Sociology as a science
   Sociology’s object of analysis
   The specificity of the social
   Common sense and sociological knowledge: boundaries and epistemological ruptures
2. The production of social reality
   Culture (s), contexts and processes of socialization
   Systems of social inequality, social practices and lifestyles.
3. Health and Disease: sociological contextualization
   The normal and the pathological as social phenomena
   Social inequalities in health and illness
   Lay perceptions of health and illness
   Disease (s) and social stigmatization
4. Death as a social process
   Social representations about death
   Professionalization of death. New professions, new practices
   
   

Suggested Bibliography:

• Abdelmalek A, Gérard JL (1995) Ciências Humanas e Cuidados de Saúde, Lisboa, Piaget
• Cabral MV, Silva PA, Mendes H (2002) Saúde e Doença em Portugal, Lisboa, ICS
• Giddens A (1997) Sociologia, Lisboa, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
• Scambler G (1999) Sociology As Applied To Medicine, London, W.B. Saunders
• Tavares D (2016) Sociologia da Saúde, Lisboa, Almedina