Sociology 355.101/535.101
Medical Sociology
Fall 2015
Dr. Whitney Garcia- Towson University
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice
LA 3342 410-704-4534 wgarcia@towson.edu
Course materials and assignments are available at http://pages.towson.edu/garcia
Course description: Medical Sociology introduces students to health, illness, and medical care
systems from a sociological perspective. The course focuses both locally and globally,
examining differences in health, illness, and medical care access and utilization inter-nationally
and intra-nationally by various socio-demographic characteristics, including class, race, gender,
and age. As well, the course introduces students to the processes of medicalization, the notion of
contested illnesses, the lived illness and wellness experience, and competing health paradigms.
Students are introduced to the topics through readings, lecture, creative research projects,
classroom discussions, videos, and other exercises.
There is no text in this course for the Fall 2015 semester. Assignments will be given in class and
most readings will be available on the course website.
The course grade is based on 100 points.
homework 10/13 req’d 2 pts each
projects
4/8 req’d
20 points
20 pts each 80 points
Required weekly homework assignments: In lieu of a course text, these weekly assignments
form a common foundation for class work and discussion. The content of homework varies and
includes readings, exercises, and videos. Together, the homework assignments are worth 20 % of
your course grade. You will earn 2 points for each fully completed homework assignment which
is executed in a manner appropriate for an upper level university course. Completed homework
of less than acceptable quality will earn 1 point. Incomplete homework will not be accepted. If
by the end of the semester, you have not successfully submitted the required 10 homework
assignments, each missing assignment (< 10) will be valued at -2.
For example, if by the end of the course you have completed 8 of the required homework
assignments for full credit, you will have 16 points on the books. However, because you are
missing two of the required 10 assignments, 4 points will be deducted and you will have 12
points out of 20 completed or 60% of the homework points available.
Sociology 355.101/535.101
Medical Sociology
Fall 2015
Term projects: There are eight different types of projects linked to different topics throughout
the semester. You are required to complete four of these projects and each is worth 20 % of your
final grade.
Quantitative analysis
Windshield
observation research
Lived illness
Experience interview
Content Analysis of
drug advertisements
Organizational study
Health care setting
observation
Alternative
paradigms provider
interview
Comparative Health
care systems
In this project, you will select three counties at different levels of GDP. For each,
you will look up demographic information, such as infant mortality rates and life
expectancy, and you will use an online website to create population pyramids for
each country. Based on the information you gather and information from class and
from readings, you will identity health priorities for each county and suggest
possible policy interventions.
You need a car and a driver for this project! You will create a working map of your
assigned route and with safety always first and foremost, your friend will drive
while you will make notes on a number of community characteristics which are
visible from the car, including things such as grocery stores, green spaces, litter, etc.
You may have to make the drive a few times. Afterwards, you will write up a
description of your observation experience and an analysis of your findings as they
relate to environmental health.
In the lived experience interview, you will select a respondent, who you will
interview for approximately 1 hour. You will create questions to guide the interview,
record the responses, and then analyze the interview, applying ideas from assigned
readings and class discussion. The topics linked to the lived experience interviews
include contested illnesses, mental illness, chronic illness, disability, and stress.
You will select 10 pharmaceutical advertisements. These can be TV commercials
(many are available online) or print advertisements. You will create a list of items to
compare across the content, such as the sociodemographic characteristics of the
people used in the ads, the TV shows or magazines in which the ads appear, how the
disorders are described, what imagery is used, etc. You will then analyze your
results, drawing on course concepts, such as medicalization and contested illnesses.
You will select a particular health care or wellness organization and research its
ownership, its personnel, its health care delivery structure, how patients move
through the services, etc. This is a good project for those already working for a
health care organization or someone preparing for a career in health care
management.
For the health care setting observation, you will compare two different types of
locales. For example, you might compare two emergency rooms, one large one in
the city and one smaller community one, or compare an ER and an urgent care
center. There are many possibilities. After making an initial visit, you will make a
preliminary list of things you want to observe. You will then select an observation
time and spend about 1 hour in each locale. Afterwards, you will describe and
analyze your observational data.
This interview option requires access to providers. For this interview, you will select
two health care providers with different approaches to similar types of services. This
could be a nurse and a physician talking pain management, am interview about death
and dying with someone working in a traditional critical care environment and
someone who works in hospice, an allopath and homeopath on overall attitudes
toward healing, etc. As with the lived experience interviews, you will create
questions to guide the interview, record the responses, and then analyze the
interview, applying ideas from assigned readings and class discussion.
This is the most traditional of the project options. This is a research project in which
you compare the health care systems of the United States with those of two other
countries on selected characteristics and discuss your findings.
Sociology 355.101/535.101
Medical Sociology
Fall 2015
Attendance: Attendance is expected and, therefore, not additionally rewarded. Most students are present
for all classes, but the following rather complicated policies are necessary for students who do miss
classes.
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While there are a variety of attendance policies in university courses, I do not adhere to the
optional attendance approach because I’ve never had a job where attendance is optional.
Therefore, attendance at every class--for the entire period-- is expected and attendance will be
taken in the beginning of class and after the break.
Additionally, I do not want the responsibility of determining if an absence is valid/excused or not
valid/unexcused. Since I realize that in life we can all expect the unexpected, two absences are
allowed with no penalty and no explanation, if the need should arise.
Students are expected to get information about the missed class and homework due for the next
week from other students in class. It is always advisable to ask two people. Please do not contact
me about missed content and assignments unless you have contacted your classmates, secured
notes, and have questions.
Students who are absent may not submit homework assignments for the missed class period since
the homework is used in class discussion. Please be sure to factor this into your 10/13 required
submissions.
If a student is absent when a term project is due, the student must notify me in advance of missing
the class for the project to be accepted and the project will have a one letter grade deduction
because the student is not present in class to discuss their work.
If a student experiences an extended illness or loss and follows the university health and/or
bereavement policies, the student affair guidelines are applicable and we should meet as soon as
possible. Please read the policies in question at http://www.towson.edu/studentaffairs/policies.
Absences in excess of the two allowed result in a 5 point deduction per absence from your final
course grade and a loss of homework credit for each additional missed class period. Please see the
homework scoring policy to access the full impact of absences in excess of two. Term projects
due during the third and subsequent missed classes will not be accepted.
As mentioned, attendance means being present for the entire class period. Leaving at the break
will be counted as a full absence. However, if the student was present for homework and/or
project discussions, he or she will get full credit for any work which was submitted if these half
attendances are still within the two allowed. If these are in excess of the two allowed, the full
additional absences policies apply.
Participation: Obviously, participation is linked to attendance: You can't participate if you're not present.
However, you can attend and not participate, although I can’t imagine how boring that is for the student.
Unfortunately, I know all too well how boring that is for the teacher. Again, in terms of anticipatory
socialization, I’ve never found that just showing up for work is enough. You need to actually work.
Participation is part of the student’s work. Attending is necessary, but not sufficient. I know that some
students say that they are not comfortable talking in class. If you feel that way, you can either accept that
or challenge it. I hope that you will participate fully, stretching beyond your comfort zone. Some degree
of participation in most, if not all, classes is expected and not additionally rewarded, although there is no
penalty for not participating. However, consistent, well-informed, relevant, and respectful contributions
throughout the semester will be rewarded. I do not give out extra credit for participation too liberally, but
a few students may earn up to 5 extra points-or half a letter grade- on their overall course grade for
exceptional contributions to the classroom. Extra credit for participation is only available to students with
two or fewer absences, who have completed all required course work, and who have no challenges to
academic integrity (see below).
Sociology 355.101/535.101
Medical Sociology
Fall 2015
Academic Integrity:
The faculty of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice expects students
to demonstrate academic integrity at all times. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in any
class. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, any form of cheating or unapproved
help on an exam or academic exercise, copying someone else’s written work without citation,
presenting fabricated information as legitimate, any unauthorized collaboration among students,
or assisting someone to cheat in any way. Penalties for academic dishonesty are determined by
the individual faculty member. The minimum penalty in for academic dishonesty in this class is a
zero on the assignment, but I reserve the right to file a formal complaint against the student in
any instance which violates academic integrity. Students who are charged with academic
dishonesty must remain enrolled in the course and cannot withdraw. Instructors will file a report
of academic dishonesty with the Office of the Student Conduct and Civility Education, the Dean
of the College of Liberal Arts, and to the Chair’s Office in the department.
Personal Problems: If you have an ongoing problem that is affecting your academic work, I strongly
encourage you to speak with me as soon as possible. Usually I can make accommodations for unusual
circumstances, but can only do so if you let me know in the beginning of the problem, not after an
extended absence or the submission of problematic work. The most important thing is for you to take the
initiative to communicate with me. You have a wide variety of ways to do so- work telephone, email,
mail box, office hours, and before or after class.
Students requesting accommodations: If you need special accommodations, you should contact
Disability Support Services at 410-704-2638 (http://www.towson.edu/dss/). In addition to that office’s
communication with me, we should meet as soon as possible so that we can discuss what I can do to assist
you.
COURSE CONTRACT