PLEASE NOTE this is a 2014-15 reading list—the precise content may change in future years.
Week 2 Seminar: What is Medical Sociology?
Seminar Questions:

What is medical sociology?

How has medical sociology changed over time?

Do we need a ‘new’ medical sociology for the C21st (as Turner 2004 claims), and
if so, why?
We will also use this first seminar for some module housekeeping issues.
Seminar Readings:

Nettleton, S. (2013) The Sociology of Health and Illness (3rd Edition). Cambridge:
Polity (Chpt. 1 ‘Introduction: The changing domains of the sociology of health and
illness)
or

Annandale, E. (2014) Sociology of Health and Medicine: A Critical
Introduction (2nd Edition). Cambridge: Polity. (Chpts., 1, 2 and 3).

Turner, B.S. (2004) The New Medical Sociology: Social Forms of Health and
Illness. New York/London: Norton & Co. (Introduction and Chpt. 8).
Week 3 Seminar: The Medicalisation of Society?
Seminar questions

What is ‘medicalisation’?

To what extent have the drivers and dynamics of medicalisation changed over
time?

How much does medicalisation cost?

In what ways (if at all) do ‘medicalisation’ and ‘biomedicalisation’ differ as
sociological concepts?
Seminar readings/Podcasts

Conrad interview with Gabe ‘Developing the medicalisation thesis’ – Sociology of
Health & Illness

Conrad, P. (2005) The Shifting engines of medicalization. Journal of Health and
Social Behavior. 46 (March): 3-14.

Conrad, P., Mackie, T. and Mehrotra, A (2010) Estimating the costs of
medicalization. Social Science and Medicine. 70: 1943-47.

Clarke, A., Mamo, L., Fishman J., Shim, J K and Fosket J.F (2003)
Biomedicalization: technoscientific transformations of health, illness and US
biomedicine. American Sociological Review. 68 (April): 161-94.
Week 4 Seminar: Pharmaceuticalisation
Seminar questions

Is Moynihan right to suggest that many cases of medicalisation today are better
regarded as ‘disease mongering’?

Can you find any good examples of ‘disease mongering’?

What is the relationship between disease mongering and pharmaceuticalisation
(given they are not the same)?
Seminar readings

Busfield, J. (2010) ‘A pill for every ill’? Explaining the expansion in medicine use.
Social Science and Medicine. 70, 6: 934-41.

Moynihan, R., Heath, I and Henry, D. (2002) Selling sickness: the pharmaceutical
industry and disease mongering.. British Medical Journal. 324 (April 13th): 886-90.

Special issue of Public Library of Science – Medicine (2006), volume 3, issue 4
(April): a series of papers on disease-mongering, select any you are particularly
interested in.

Williams, S.J., Gabe J. and Martin, P. (2011) The pharmaceuticalisation of society?
An analytical framework. Sociology of Health & Illness. 33, 5: 710—25. (See also
rejoinder by Abraham and reply by us in this same issue).
Week 5 Seminar: Lay 'Experts' (in the Information Age)?
Seminar questions:

Is ‘lay expertise’ a contradiction in terms when it comes to matters of health and
illness?

How significant is the advent of the so-called ‘information age’ in this regard?
Seminar readings:

Shaw, I. (2002) How lay are lay beliefs? Health. 6, 3: 287-99.

Prior, L. (2003) Belief, knowledge and expertise. Sociology of Health and Illness.
25, 3 (Silver Anniversary Issue): 41-57.

Nettleton, S. Burrows, R. and O’Malley, L. (2005) The mundane realities of the
everyday use of the internet for health and their consequences for media
convergence. Sociology of Health and Illness. 27, 7: 972-992.

Fox, N.J, Ward, K and O’Rourke, A.J. (2005) The ‘expert patient’: Empowerment or
medical dominance? The case of weight loss, pharmaceutical drugs and the
Internet. Social Science and Medicine. 60: 1299-1309.
Week 6 Seminar: Patient-Professional Encounters
Seminar questions:

In what ways do ‘consensus’, ‘conflict’ and ‘negotiation’ approaches to the doctorpatient relationship differ?

Is consumerism reconfiguring the doctor-patient relationship?

What about other patient-professional relationships in health care?
Seminar readings

Nettleton, S. (2013) The Sociology of Health and Illness (3rd Edition). Cambridge:
Polity Press (Chpt. 6 ‘The Sociology of Lay-Professional Interactions’)

Lupton D. (1997) Consumerism, reflexivity and the medical encounter. Social
Science and Medicine. 45, 3: 373-81.
Week 7 Seminar: Ageing Bodies/ Technogenarians?
Seminar questions:

Is ageing all about decline and disadvantage?

Are older people becoming ‘technogenerians’?

Are there limits to what can or should be done here?
Seminar readings:

Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. (1998) Ageing and the limiting conditions of the body.
Sociological Research Online. 3, (4) www.socresonline.org.uk/3/4/4.html.

Special issue on ‘Technogenarians’ Sociology of Health and Illness. 32, 2: 171-180.
(especially articles on ‘anti-ageing medicine’).

Williams, S.J, Higgs, P. and Katz, S (2012) Neuroculture, active ageing and the
‘older brain’: Problems, promises and prospects. Sociology of Health and Illness.
34, 1: 64-78.
Week 8 Seminar: Chronic Illness as Biographical Disruption?
Seminar questions:

Does ‘biographical disruption’ mask as much as it reveals when it comes to the
meaning and experience of chronic illness?

Is it time to rethink the sociology of chronic illness and disabling conditions? If so,
in what ways?
Seminar Readings:

Carricaburu, D,. and Pierett, J. (1995) From biographical disruption to biographical
reinforcement.: the case of HIV-positive men. Sociology of Health and Illness. 17:
65-88;

Faircloth, C.A., Boylstein, C, Rittman, M., Young, ME, Gubrium, J. (2004) Sudden
illness and biographical flow in narratives of stroke recovery. Sociology of Health
and Illness. 26. 2: 242-61;

Pound, P. , Gompertz, P, and Embrahim, S. (1998) Illness in the context of older
age: the case of stroke. Soiciology of Health and Illness. 20, 4: 489-506.

Williams S.J. (2000) Chronic illness as biographical disruption or biographical
disruption as chronic illness? Reflections on a core concept. Sociology of Health
and Illness. 22, 1: 40-67.

Scambler, G. (2009) Review article: Health-related stigma. Sociology of Health &
Illness. 31: 441-55.

Scambler G and Scambler, S. (eds.) (2010) New Directions in the Sociology of
Chronic and Disabling Conditions. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (esp
introduction by Scambler and Scambler, and chapter 3 by Thomas, chapter 9 by
Bury, chapter 11 by Williams)
Week 9 Seminar: The Medicalisation and Politicisation of Sleep Matters?
Seminar question:

What sociological light does sleep shed on the 24/7 society?

Is sleep another case of the medicalisation of life?

Can we speak of a growing ‘politicisation’ of sleep matters today, and if so, in
what ways?
Seminar readings:

Coveney, C. (2014) Managing sleep and wakefulness in a 24-hour world.
Sociology of Health and Illness. 36, 1: 123-36.

Coveney, C., Williams, S.J. and Gabe, J. (2014) The sleep of the nation: Problems
and Prospects. Discover Society (August)

Kroll-Smith, S. (2003) Popular media and ‘excessive daytime sleepiness’: a study of
rhetorical authority in medical sociology. Sociology of Health and Illness. 25, 6:
625-43.

Williams, S.J. (2011) The Politics of Sleep. Basingstoke; Palgrave Macmillan (chpt
5).

Williams, S.J. (2013) Medicalisation or customisation? Sleep, enterprise and
enhancement in the 24/7 Society. Social Science and Medicine. (Feb) 79: 40-7.
Seminar Questions - week 10
WEEK 10 SEMINAR: VULNERABLE BODIES
Seminar Questions:

Have death and dying become sequestrated experiences in late/postmodernity?
Key Seminar Readings:

Lawton, J. (1998) Contemporary hospice care: the sequestration of the
unbounded body and 'dirty dying’. Sociology of Health and Illness. 20, 2: 121-143.

Walter, T. (2009) Jade’s dying body: The ultimate reality show. Sociological
Research Online. 14, 5: www.socresonline.org.uk
END TERM 1