1. Stephen Hansell, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology
Institute for Health Research
http://sakai.rutgers.edu
shansell@rci.rutgers.edu
609-203-2830

2. 920:210
Sociology of Medicine and

3. Class 1 - Introduction

4. I. My Background
A. Background
1. Ph.D. at University of Chicago
2. Postdoctoral Fellowship
3. Educational Sociology
4. Medical Sociology
B. Current research
1. Managed care and psychiatric treatment
of children and adolescents

5. II. How to reach me
A. Talk to me after class
B. E-mail: shansell@rci.rutgers.edu
D. Office: Davison 101A, Douglass campus
E. Office Hours: Monday & Thursday, 1-3
E. Cell Phone: 609-203-2830
F. office phone : 732 932 6467

6. III. Three required exams
A. Multiple choice
B. Not cumulative
C. Questions from book and lecture (20 from
each)
D. Essay makeups
E. No extra credit
F. Course grades based on a curve
1. 30% A's
2. 30% B's
3. 30% C's

7. NOT AN EASY A

8. IV. Required book
A. Medical Sociology, 11th ed., by William C.
Cockerham, Prentice Hall, 2010
Available at New Jersey Books, Easton Ave., New
Brunswick
You must buy this book to pass the course.

9. V. GENERAL
A. You are responsible for all material in the
book, and all material presented in class
B. You must attend every class to do well
C. Please turn-off cell phones, pagers, music,
and wireless devices during class
D. Please stay for the whole class (e.g. don’t
walk out in the middle of class)
E. Cheating will not be tolerated

10. VI. SCHEDULE
SCHEDULE
Dates Topic
9/2 Introduction
9/8,9/9 Concepts of health and illness
9/13,9/16 Epidemiology
9/20,9/23 Epidemiology
9/27,9/30 Personality and disease
Exam1 - Monday 10/4
9:50-11:10am Scott 135

11. 9/7,9/11 Social factors and disease
9/14,9/18 Social factors and disease
9/21 Healing options
9/25,9/28 Health care providers
11/1,11/4 Health care
providers
Exam2 – Monday 11/8
9:50-11:10am Scott 135

12. 11/11,11/15 Organization of health care
11/18,11/29 Economics of health care
12/2,12/6 Medical care systems
12/9,12/13 Medical care
systems
Exam3 – Thursday 12/23
8-9:20am, Scott 135

13. VIII. What is medical sociology?
A. Who gets sick and why?
1. Illness and death are not evenly distributed in the population
a) People with higher education live longer
- Knowledge hypothesis (people with higher education
live longer than people with lower education)
- Motivation hypothesis (college graduates have a
higher standard of living and have more motivation to
stay healthy and so they exercise and stuff more)
- Health behavior hypothesis
- Genetic hypothesis (if ur parents went to college
there is more chance the kids will go to college too
and will be healthier)

14. b) Freshmen living in dormitories have 3 times greater risk of getting
meningitis than other college students
a) Crowding hypothesis (freshmen live in over crowded housing
arrangements)
b) Lack of immunity hypothesis (
- More information:
health.rutgers.edu/vaccine
being a social being is about exchanging spit and it transmits most
diseases
meningitis = very rare. 0.7 per 100,000
– freshmen 5/ 100,000

15. B. What kinds of health care do people
get?
1. US medical science is the best in the world
2. But not all US citizens have access to health care
a) Poor people, children, mentally ill, others
without insurance such as new college grads
– (young people can continue being covered
under the parents plan until 26 yrs old)
–

16. C. Explode medical care myths
1. US citizens are not the healthiest people in the world (us is
25th in the list of lifespan, we are 28th in the rate of infant
mortality. All the european countries have lower mortality
except italy. CHallenge= we are the most diverse countries
in the world)
2. Medical hoaxes
3. deodrents do not cause cancer
4. tampons are not infected with asbestos
5. banana peals are not contaminated with bacteria
6. there are no deadly toilet spiders

17. Stephen Hansell, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology
Institute for Health Research
http://sakai.rutgers.edu
shansell@rci.rutgers.edu
609-203-2830