Course title: SFC 1 Social Science Perspectives on Health (2 credits)

Teacher: Prof. Mathew George

Rationale:-

For the students to have an understanding of health issues, it is imperative that they
understand how society engages with human life. This is because health status and health
services in any society are determined more by the social determinants within the society
rather than improvements in the technology and scientific knowledge. The focus in this
course will be on the basic concepts and theoretical approaches in understanding the society
and their application to the resolution of health problems and understanding people's
engagement with health institutions. Social science disciplines like sociology, anthropology
and psychology and their concepts (social and behavioural factors) and human interactions
with institutions that are crucial to identification and resolution of public health problems
will be discussed, in accordance with the fields of public health and health care. Issues
related to development will be discussed from a social science view point by linking social
conditions and health status of the population. These multisectoral and multidimensional
approaches prevalent within the stream of health studies will familiarize the students to
understand various theoretical perspectives within social sciences and its utility in their
profession.

Learner’s Objectives:-

Upon completion of this course, students would:

• Have a basic understanding of concepts that are pertinent to health from various
social sciences like anthropology, sociology and psychology.
• Be aware of the implication of choosing a specific perspective on the scientific
questions analyzed and be able to analyze the resulting policy implications.
• Be able to understand the significance of the dynamics of society in health problems
and programs.
• Be able to use various social science concepts with rigor in their professional analysis
of health situations and programs.

Course Content:-

• Introduction to the course: Scope of Social Sciences in Health: Relevance of knowing

the social world for Health professions

Health and Development

• Linkage between Health and Development: a historical overview.
• Health indicators as development indicators and linkage among sectors with relation
to health and development – trends in health indicators, demographic transitions and
relation to health, burden of disease,
 • Public Health implications of Development: Mckeown's Thesis about reasons for
decline of mortality in England; A Social Science Approach; Social Model and
Medical Model
• Equity in health status: Concept and Principles, Equity Vs Equality; Linkage between
equity and ethics.
• Equity in health care: Universalisation of health services as a means of attaining
Equity
• The right to Health and right to Development: Rights approach in Public health;
Individual Vs Population perspective in Health.

Health Psychology
• Introduction to concepts in Health psychology – beliefs, attitudes, individual
differences, stress, and stigma
• Health behaviour change in the 21st century – components, equality, targets for
behaviour change
• Behavioural determinants of health – personality-related factors, risk-taking
behaviour, stress and stressful life events, emotions and health, adjustment and
adaptation to chronic disease.
• Psychological models of health – health belief model, the stages of change model,
social cognitive model, trans-theoretical model, General Adaptation model of stress.

Health Institutions
• Concept of Health Behaviours Illness behaviour, Treatment seeking behavior; Sick
role and its contribution
• Utilisation Studies: Anderson and Newman model; Need to Integrate provider and
beneficiary perspective in understanding Health care.
• Social Determinants of Health: Social Inequalities and Social production of disease;
Role of Conceptual Map in understanding a problem;
• Changing Nature of Medicine and Medical care: Bureaucracy, Professionalisation,
Corporatisation, Medical Industrial complex; Role of state and Health Policy
• Medicalisation of Society: Indicators of Medicalisation; Good and Bad Forms of
Medicalisation: Implications on Public health and Health care
• Anthropological Approaches: Medical System: Classification, Problems of
classification; Medical Pluralism, Integration of medical system.
• Systems Approach in Public Health; Concept of Health System; Diverse use of the
concept of Health system and its implications; Intersectoral co-ordination

Teaching Method:-
Lecture

Method of Evaluation:-
Written examination (60 %)
Group Assignments (40 %)
Essential Readings:

1. Thomas, R (2002) Introduction to the Sociology of Health and Illness In Society and
Health, Sociology for Health Professions, Kluwer Academic publishers, Chap 1.
2. Durkheim, E. (1895) What is a social fact?, In Rules of Sociological Method,

Health and Development

3. Narayana, K V (1997). Health and Development, New Delhi: Rawat Publications, chp
1.
4. Phillips, D., & Verhasselt, Y. (Eds.). (2002). Health and development. Routledge.,
Chap 1.
5. Antony, G. M. & Laxmaiah, A. (2008). Human development, poverty, health and
nutrition situation in India. Indian Journal of Medical Research, 128, 198-205.
6. Mckeown, T and Record, R G (1962) Reasons for the Decline of Mortality in England
and Wales during the nineteenth Century, Population Studies, 16, 2, 94-122.
7. Link and Phelan (2002) Mckeown and the Idea that Social Conditions are
Fundamental Causes of Disease, American Journal of Public health, 92, 5, 730-732.
8. Whitehead, M. (1992) The Concept and Principles of Equity and Health, International
Journal of Health Services, 22, 3, 429-445.
9. Braveman, P (2006) Defining equity in health, Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health, 57, 4, 254-58.
10. Anand, S (2002) The concern for equity in health, Journal of epidemiology and
community health, 11: 659-666.
11. Sengupta, A. K. (2013). Conceptualizing the right to development for the twenty-first
century.Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Realizing the right to
development: essays in commemoration of, 25, 67-87.
12. Mann, Jonathan et al. 1994 Health and Human Rights, Health and Human Rights, 1, 1,
6-23.

Health Psychology
13. Glanz, K., Rimer, B. K., & Viswanath, K. (Eds.). (2015). Health behavior: Theory,
research, and practice. John Wiley & Sons. Chap 5-7.
14. Taylor, S. E. (2006). Health psychology. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Chap 3.
15. Brannon, L. & Feist, J. (2000). Health Psychology. Australia: Brooks/Cole Thomson
Learning.
16. Ewart, C. K. (1991). Social action theory for a public health psychology. American
Psychologist, 46(9), 931.
17. Blustein, D. L. (2008). The role of work in psychological health and well-being: a
conceptual, historical, and public policy perspective. American psychologist, 63(4),
228.
18. Marks, D. F. (2002). The Health Psychology Reader. London: Sage Publications.
 Health Institutions
19. George, M (2017) Fear of Fevers: Risk, Medicalisation and Provisioning, In
Institutionalising Illness narratives: Discourses on Fever and Care in Southern India,
Springer: Singapore, chp 4.
20. White, K. (2002) An Introduction to the Sociology of Health and Illness. London:
Sage. Chp 5.
21. Raphael, D (2006) Social Determinants of Health: Present Status, unanswered
Questions, And Future Directions, IJHS, 36, 4, 651-677.
22. Marmot, M (2005) Social Determinants of health Inequalities, Lancet, 365, 1099-104.
23. Zola, I (1972) Medicine as an institution of social control, American Sociological
Revieiw, 20, 4, 487-503.
24. Parens, E. (2013). On good and bad forms of medicalization. Bioethics, 27(1), 28-35.
25. Mckinlay, J.B. and Stoeckle, J.D. (1988) Corporatizaton and the Social
Transformation of Doctoring, International Journal of Health Services, 18, 2, 191-
205.
26. Relman, Arnold (1980) The New Medical-Industrial Complex, New England Journal
of medicine, 303: 963-970.
27. Pescosolido, B. A. (2006) Professional Dominance and the Limits of erosion,
Society,43,6, 21- 29.
28. Field, Mark G (1973) The concept of the “Health System” at the Macro-sociological
Level, Social Science and Medicine, 7, 763-785.
29. Leishow, S. J. Best, A. et al. (2008) Systems Thinking to Improve Public's Health,
American Journal of preventive medicine, 35, 2S, S196-S 203.
30. van Olmen, J., Marchal, B., Van Damme, W., Kegels, G., & Hill, P. S. (2012). Health
systems frameworks in their political context: framing divergent agendas. BMC Public
Health, 12(1), 774.
31. Andersen, Ronald and Newman, John (2005) Societal and Individual Determinants of
Medical Care Utilization in the United States, The Milbank Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 4,
(pp. 1–28).
32. Pedersen, D and Baruffati, V (1989) Healers, Deities, Saints and Doctors: Elements
for the Analysis of Medical Systems, Social Science and Medicine, 29, 4, 487-496.
33. Sujatha, V and Leena Abraham (2009) Medicine, State and Society, EPW, 44, 16, 35-
43.
34. Reed, M. (1989) The Sociology of Management, New York: Harvester Wheat Sheaf,
Chap 1.
35. Alderson, P (1998) Theories in health care and research: the importance of theories in
health care, BMJ 317, 1007-10.