SOC1600C | OA | Happiness | 4 | Online - Asynchronous | Rob Koegel | 01/02/2023-01/15/2023 | This interdisciplinary course will analyze the key sources of and debates about happiness. As we explore possibilities of increasing happiness, individually and collectively, we will focus on the relationship between happiness and success, culture, motivation, social media, food, and exercise. This course is based on the assumption that learning, at its best, open minds, changes lives, and is fun. Instead of analyzing abstract ideas that are often hard to relate to, we will constantly connect the issues we explore to your questions, beliefs, and dreams. |
SOC3600C | OA | Sociology of Health | 4 | Online - Asynchronous | Michelle Holliday-Stocking | 01/02/2023-01/15/2023 | Health, illness and healing are not merely physiological states but also human experiences shaped by sociological forces. As Freund, McGuire and Podhurst point out in Health, Illness and the Social Body. A Critical Sociology [2003: 4], "The sick body is not simply a closed container, encased in skin that has been invaded by germs or traumatic blows but is also open and connected to the world that surrounds it. Thus the human body is open to the social body. Similarly, our material (or physical) environment, such as the urban landscape, the workplace, or our foods, is influenced by our culture, social structure, and relationships. And these in turn influence our bodies." The course begins with a brief review of the history of past viewpoints and practices in western civilization toward health, healing and illness leading to the emergence of the modern medical profession, scientific medicine, and the establishment of the medical model as the primary paradigm of disease. We will examine the social factors that influence who gets sick, the types of illness suffered, the experience of being sick, the process of seeking help, and the context in which medical care is delivered. We will discuss the effect of stress on health and the role that human relationships and social support play in mediating stress. We will assess the state of our health care system and compare it to other systems. In general, we will depend on the theories, concepts and findings from sociology as they apply in the study of this area to direct our focus and inform our analysis. Fulfills a SOSC requirement in LS Core. |