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Unit of Study SOCI2005 - Society, Health and Illness (2025)

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Unit description

Provides an overview of sociological concepts and perspectives on health and illness, whilst focusing primarily on Australian society. Examines the causes, nature and outcomes of key health inequalities as well as the main attempts to rectify them. The social, cultural and political consequences of health inequalities are illuminated.

Unit content

Module 1. Sociological approaches to the study of health and illness and the Australian health care system
Module 2. The social distribution of health and illness in Australian society: class, gender, Indigeneity and ethnicity
Module 3. The social organisation of health care: rural health, medical dominance, nursing and alternative medicine
Module 4. The social context of mental health and disability
Module 5. Health promotion and illness prevention
Module 6. Health, politics and social change
 

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Online
Term3
Term3

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

critically analyse sociological perspectives on health and illness

recognise how health, illness and the healthcare system are outcomes of the ways in which society is organised

identify the social, economic, political and cultural aspects involved in reproducing or changing health inequalities in Australian society

critically evaluate health status in relation to stratification concepts of class, gender, ethnicity and regionality.

Prescribed learning resources

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Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.