Module ANT2085 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
ANT2085: Health, Illness and Bodies in Contemporary Society Part 1: Medicine and Social Control
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
This module ‘Medicine and Social Control’ aims to unpack and critically analyse current academic theories on health, illness and medicine, taking an inter-disciplinary approach including medical sociology, medical anthropology and health psychology. It asks how and why 'health' has become a key social value and form of social control within contemporary Western society. It considers whether our lives have become ‘medicalized’, or taken over by medical professionals and solutions. It examines why health inequalities in class and gender persist. It also considers how and why medicine has become the ultimate ‘profession’, and how medical power is being challenged by new social forces. It also pays attention to the lived experience of being ill and how living a ‘healthy lifestyle’ has become a moral marker of goodness. It also considers how theories of health and illness drive health policy-making in the political and health-care systems.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate knowledge of a range of theories, models and policies relevant to the study of health, illness and medicine; 2. relate these perspectives to empirical studies and findings from interdisciplinary sources; |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. demonstrate in writing and orally a developing competence in using major theoretical perspectives and concepts in sociology and anthropology and their application to social life; 4. demonstrate in writing and orally some ability to analyse empirical materials from sociology/anthropology and critically engage with materials involving complex reasoning; |
Personal and Key Skills | 5. demonstrate in writing an ability to analyse, critically engage with, and report accurately on existing written material whilst articulating it within a structured and cogent argument; 6. demonstrate an appreciation of the interpersonal skills (e.g. empathy, ethical thinking) required to analyse and produce high quality research within the arena of health and illness. 7. demonstrate the ability to work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
1. Ideas of Health and Illness
2. Experiences of Illness
3. Biomedicine and its Objects
4. Medicalization
5. Healthcare and the Market
6. Mental Health
7. Inequality and Structural Violence
8. ‘Women’s Health’ and the Politics of Reproduction
9. Longevity and the End of Life
10. Culture, Healthcare, and Medical Pluralism
11. Care
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
22 | 128 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity | 11 | 11 x 1 hour lectures |
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity | 11 | 11 x 1 hour tutorials |
Guided independent study | 40 | 11 course readings |
Guided independent study | 40 | Reading/research for essay |
Guided independent study | 8 | Critique preparation |
Guided independent study | 40 | Reading/revisions for exam |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Journals: Social Science and Medicine, Medical Anthropology, Sociology of Health and Illness, Health
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Essay plan of summative assignment | 500 words | 1, 3, 4, 5 | Written feedback |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
50 | 50 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Essay | 50 | 2,500 words | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | Written feedback |
Examination | 50 | 1 hour | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | Verbal feedback |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Essay | Essay (2,500 words) | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | August/September reassessment period |
Examination | Examination (1 hour) | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | August/September reassessment period |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Helman C. 1990: Culture, Health and Illness. 4th ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Janzen J. 2002: The Social Fabric of Health. Boston: McGraw Hill.
Singer, M., & Baer, H. (2012). Introducing medical anthropology : A discipline in action (2nd ed.). Lanham, Md. ; Plymouth: Altamira Press.
Pool R & Geissler W. 2005: Medical Anthropology. London: Open University.
Johnson TM & Sargent CF. (eds) 1990: Medical Anthropology: a Handbook of Theory and Method. Greenwood.
Good B.J. 7 al. (eds) 2010: A Reader in Medical Anthropology. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Bury, M & Gabe, J. (eds.) 2004. The sociology of health and illness: A Reader. London: Routledge Nichter M & Lock M. (eds) 2002: New Horizons in Medical Anthropology. London: Routledge.