This distinctive postgraduate programme looks at illness and medicine from a social perspective. It is a taught programme rooted in medical sociology, offering a multi-faceted exploration of health and illness. The key focus is the intersection between the medical world (health, illness, professions) with the social context and social relations.
The taught study units place the practice of medicine and the experience of health and illness within a broad socio-cultural and geographical framework. They offer the opportunity to critically engage with sociological areas of interest such as inequalities in health, the lives experience of illness, the social construction of medical knowledge, global health, health and social policy, and the social implications of genomic research, to mention a few. Research methods are also a key focus in the programme. These are then put into practice in the empirical research-based dissertation, on a topic of your choice.
| Year (This/these unit/s start/s in Semester 1 and continue/s in Semester 2) | |||||||||||
| Compulsory Units (All students must register for this/these unit/s) | |||||||||||
| SOC5020* | Reflective Analysis for Professional Development | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
| * Study-unit SOC5020 is exptected to start in semester 1 of academic year 2024-25 and continues up to the end of semester 2 of academic year 2025-26. | |||||||||||
| Semester 1 | |||||||||||
| Compulsory Units (All students must register for this/these unit/s) | |||||||||||
| SOC5005 | Health Medicine and Society: An Introduction to Medical Sociology | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
| SOC5012 | Principles of Research Design | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
| SOC5014 | Inequalities in Health | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
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| Semester 2 | |||||||||||
| Compulsory Units (All students must register for this/these unit/s) | |||||||||||
| SOC5015 | Introduction to Global Health | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
| SOC5016 | Health, Knowledge and Practice | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
| SOC5018 | Research Analysis in Practice | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
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| Semester 1 | |||||||||||
| Compulsory Units (All students must register for this/these unit/s) | |||||||||||
| GEO5013 | Place, Health and Disability | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
| SOC5010 | Social Policy and Health | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
| SOC5017 | Digital Health Technologies | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
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| Semester 2 | |||||||||||
| Compulsory Units (All students must register for this/these unit/s) | |||||||||||
| ANT5050 | Anthropological Perspectives on Medical Practices | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
| SOC5011 | Exploring the Lived Experience of Illness | 5 ECTS | |||||||||
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| Summer Semester | |||||||||||
| Compulsory Units (All students must register for this/these unit/s) | |||||||||||
| SOC5022 | Dissertation | 30 ECTS | |||||||||
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This programme of study is governed by the General Regulations for University Postgraduate Awards, 2021 and by the Bye-Laws for the award of the Degree of Master of Arts in Health, Medicine and Society - M.A. - under the auspices of the Faculty of Arts.
