84243 - Determinants of Health and Disease

Learning outcomes

Describe and critically scrutinize the proximal and structural determinants of health, their uneven distribution within and between different populations, and identify health professionals’ responsibility in reducing inequalities in health, both at a global and local level.

Course contents

Different approaches on health inequalities:

The health-self management proposal

The cognitive-behavioral approach

The culturalistic approach

The structural approach

Structural violence approach

Social Determinants Theory

Psycho-social approach

Social Network approach

The ecological approach

The life course perspective

Health Vulnerabilities in the Digital Society

Health inequalities in the Medical encounter (The Health Capital Perspective – Shim)

Four social theories in Global Health

Students are required to read the materials before class

Lesson 1

Introduction to the course

Lesson 2

Farmer P. (2005), Pathologies of Power, University of California Press, Berkeley: Ch. 1 On suffering and structural violence, pp. 29-50.

Lesson 3

Kleinman A. (2010), Four social theories for global health, The Lancet, 375: 1518-1519

Ch. 1, Link B. and Phelan J., Social Conditions as Fundamental Causes of Health Inequalities, pp.3-17, in Bird C.E., Conrad P., Fremont A.M. and Timmermans S. (Eds.) (2010), Handbook of Medical Sociology, Sixth Edition Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Lesson 4

Ch. 8, Robert S. et al., A Life-Course Approach to the Study of Neighborhoods and Health, Bird C.E., Conrad P., Fremont A.M. and Timmermans S. (Eds.) (2010), Handbook of Medical Sociology, Sixth Edition Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

Ch. 4, Rieker P. et al., Understanding Gender and Health: Old Patterns, New Trends, and Future Directions, in Bird C.E., Conrad P., Fremont A.M. and Timmermans S. (Eds.) (2010), Handbook of Medical Sociology, Sixth Edition Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

Lesson 5

Scalvini M. (2010), Glamorizing sick body: how advertising has changed the representation of HIV/AIDS, Social Semiotics, 20(3): 219-231

Hofmann B. (2002), On the Triad Disease, Illness and Sickness, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, n.6: 651-673.

Lesson 6

Shim J. (2010), A Theoretical Approach to Understanding Health Care Interactions and the Dynamics of Unequal Treatment, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(1): 1-15

Maturo A., Moretti V. (2017), Sociological Theories on Air Pollution: Between Environmental Justice and the Risk Society Approach, in Capello D, Gaddi A. Clinical Handbook of Air Pollution-Related Diseases, Springer.

Lesson 7

Maturo A., Mori L., Moretti V. (2016), An Ambiguous Health Education: The Quantified Self and the Medicalization of the Mental Sphere, “Italian Journal of Sociology of Education”, 2016, 8(3), 248-268.

Maturo A. (2012) Social Justice and Human Enhancement in Today’s Bionic Society, “Salute e Societa’”, XI(2): 15-28

Lesson 8

Review of the course

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

REQUIRED READINGS

Farmer P. (2005), Pathologies of Power, University of California Press, Berkeley: Ch. 1 On suffering and structural violence, pp. 29-50.

Kleinman A. (2010), Four social theories for global health, The Lancet, 375: 1518-1519

NEW: Ch. 1, Link B. and Phelan J., Social Conditions as Fundamental Causes of Health Inequalities, pp.3-17, in Bird C.E., Conrad P., Fremont A.M. and Timmermans S. (Eds.) (2010), Handbook of Medical Sociology, Sixth Edition Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Ch. 8, Robert S. et al., A Life-Course Approach to the Study of Neighborhoods and Health, Bird C.E., Conrad P., Fremont A.M. and Timmermans S. (Eds.) (2010), Handbook of Medical Sociology, Sixth Edition Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

Ch. 4, Rieker P. et al., Understanding Gender and Health: Old Patterns, New Trends, and Future Directions, in Bird C.E., Conrad P., Fremont A.M. and Timmermans S. (Eds.) (2010), Handbook of Medical Sociology, Sixth Edition Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

Scalvini M. (2010), Glamorizing sick body: how advertising has changed the representation of HIV/AIDS, Social Semiotics, 20(3): 219-231

Hofmann B. (2002), On the Triad Disease, Illness and Sickness, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, n.6: 651-673.

Shim J. (2010), A Theoretical Approach to Understanding Health Care Interactions and the Dynamics of Unequal Treatment, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(1): 1-15

Maturo A., Mori L., Moretti V. (2016), An Ambiguous Health Education: The Quantified Self and the Medicalization of the Mental Sphere, “Italian Journal of Sociology of Education”, 2016, 8(3), 248-268.

Maturo A. (2012) Social Justice and Human Enhancement in Today’s Bionic Society, “Salute e Societa’”, XI(2): 15-28

Maturo A., Moretti V. (2017), Sociological Theories on Air Pollution: Between Environmental Justice and the Risk Society Approach, in Capello D, Gaddi A. Clinical Handbook of Air Pollution-Related Diseases, Springer.

Teaching methods

Class discussions

power point

Assessment methods

Oral examination

Office hours

See the website of Antonio Francesco Maturo