SOCIOL 703

Sociology of Mental Health


Please note: this is archived course information from 2017 for SOCIOL 703.

Description

The first part of the course will introduce students to the theories of modernity which relate to the "medical project" - a process of increased professionalisation of health and illness technologies. The second part investigates the history and the treatment of those defined as "the mad" as well as the rise of the group of professionals primarily responsible for treating them - psychiatry. Within this second part of the course, the main psychiatric theories of mental illness will also be outlined. The third part of the course will focus on some key sociological issues within the field of mental health today, including mental illness and the pharmaceutical companies, the increasing medicalisation of everyday life, mental health policy and the rise of alternative treatments, the rise of user groups and mental health narratives and gender, race and mental illness.

Availability 2017

Semester 1

Lecturer(s)

Coordinator(s) Dr Bruce Cohen

Reading/Texts

A course reader will be provided.

Points

SOCIOL 703: 30 points