Medical Sociology

Since when baldness became a medical issue? Is Internet addiction supposed to be treated medically? Why homosexuality was first considered as a disorder but not now? What good are medical innovations if they only benefit people who could afford it? What is a good medical system and how to develop it? This module is to answer questions like above. As a systematic introduction to medical sociology, this module illustrates that medicine is also social science through a range of topics, including basic of epidemiology, social determinant of diseases, experience of illness, social construction of health, medical profession, medical organization, and healthcare system. All themes will be examined "sociologically" in a constant contrast with biological and medical views. Structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism, as basic sociological paradigms, will be applied, with the use of professionalization theory, institutionalization theory, organization theory, comparative sociology, and many other sociological perspectives. Layperson of sociology, however, should not be worried, as all needed sociological knowledge will be fully covered in lectures, and concrete examples are always provided from various countries and regions, especially Singapore. At the end of this module, learners will be able to apply the sociological perspectives to understand diseases, illness, and sickness, and make sense of health professions and healthcare systems.