SOCL19070 - Health and Medical Sociology

Showing: 2026 HE Term 1
General Information

Unit Synopsis

Employing the concepts and theories of contemporary social theorists, this unit analyses the medical model of health - both historically and comparatively. Topics covered include the reasons for the expansion of western medicine or medicalisation of society, the body and mind distinction in medical science - its consequences for health, the professionalisation of medicine, and the political economy of medicine.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Student to have completed 36 credit points.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026


Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 50%
2. Written Assessment 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2019 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 33.33% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 23.08% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Moodle
Feedback:
 The fact that the lectures and notes were available all at once really supported my needs to work externally

Recommendation:
 Lectures will be available in Week 1

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Source: Moodle
Feedback:
 It would be good if for the second assignment were given an example or template of how to write an essay

Recommendation:
 Will provide a template for how to write an essay

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Unit Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. understand and articulate explanations of the medicalisation of society
  2. describe the consequences for health of medical dominance
  3. explain the sociological meanings of body, health and illness.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • •
6 - Information Technology Competence • • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence • • •
8 - Ethical practice • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10
1 - Written Assessment • • • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • • •