SOCIOL 703 : Sociology of Mental Health

Arts

2023 Semester One (1233) (30 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Interrogates advanced sociological theories of medicine and psychiatry, investigating mental health interventions as social, economic, cultural and political projects. Key issues will include The Enlightenment and theories of the self, the rise of science and the 'psy' professionals, institutionalisation and community care, current sociological theories of mental health, the medicalisation of everyday life, and gender, race and mental illness.

Course Overview

Interrogates advanced sociological theories of medicine and psychiatry, investigating mental health interventions as social, economic, cultural and political projects. Key issues will include The Enlightenment and theories of the self, the rise of science and the 'psy' professionals, institutionalisation and community care, current sociological theories of mental health, the medicalisation of everyday life, and gender, race and mental illness.
 
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
• Critically evaluate medicine’s and psychiatry’s focus on behaviour considered ‘sick’ or ‘abnormal’ as part of the more general process of modernity.
• Critically assess medicine and psychiatry as social, economic, cultural and political -as well as medical- projects.
• Critically evaluate the profession of psychiatry through use of relevant social and sociological theory.
• Place medicine and psychiatry within its wider social, cultural, economic and political contexts.
• Critically debate current key topics within the sociology of medicine and mental health.

Course Requirements

No pre-requisites or restrictions

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 2: Critical Thinking
Capability 3: Solution Seeking
Capability 4: Communication and Engagement
Graduate Profile: Master of Arts

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Analyse medical and psychiatric imperialism (Capability 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.3, 3.1, 4.1 and 4.2)
  2. Understand a range of sociological theories and critical scholarship relevant to the study of the mental health industry (Capability 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 4.1 and 4.2)
  3. Evaluate issues of power and social control within the psy-professions (Capability 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1 and 4.1)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Assignments 20% Individual Coursework
Essays 80% Individual Coursework

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 30 point course and students are expected to spend 20 hours per week on course-related activities.

For this course, you can expect 3 contact hours for our weekly discussion sessions, 3 hours of reading and thinking about the content for each session, and 14 hours of work on your assignments.

Delivery Mode

Campus Experience

Attendance is expected at our weekly sessions.

No learning activities will be recorded. 

The course will not involve online events.

The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable delivery.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

There is no set text for this course. All mandatory readings will be available online.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Most of the feedback from the last time the course  was taught (semester one, 2021) understandably concerned issues with (forced) online teaching. But there was one comment which always seems to haunt us lecturers - the suggestion that the course requires updating (to quote, "while the content on the history of psychiatry was very interesting, I thought the critiques of psychiatry as it is today were often kind of dated"). Every year the course is updated, new research and refs are added including the most recent publications from yours truly. At the same time I will make more of an effort to emphasize a key point for us sociologists - that often what appears as "new research" and "new theory" on aspects of mental pathology are usually nothing of the sort. Please bring your examples to class and lets discuss them in more detail.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Acknowledgement of sources is an important aspect of academic writing. The University’s Referen©ite website www.cite.auckland.ac.nz provides students with a one-stop online resource for academic referencing needs. Referen©ite explains the essentials of referencing and how to avoid plagiarism. It also includes practical tools to help students reference correctly, use references effectively in writing, and gives fast access to some major reference formats with examples. 

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Well-being always comes first
We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - for more information, look at this Canvas page https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/courses/33894, which has links to various support services in the University and the wider community.

While we are all concerned for the 'well-being' of staff and students, it is important that as 'the critic and conscience of society' the University remains critically engaged with such issues. This is a useful reference for those interested in finding out more:

Davies, W. (2015) The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-Being. London: Verso.

You are also welcome to contact the lecturer for this course for further references which problematise issues of 'well-being' and 'mental health'  in neoliberal society. We will be engaging further with these issues on the course.

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.

Published on 01/11/2022 12:35 p.m.