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Health, Illness and Bodies in Contemporary Society: Part 2: Bodies in Society

Module description

This module will introduce you to contemporary sociological and anthropological ways of understanding how bodies are made, manipulated, shaped, reproduced, represented and experienced. You will explore how contemporary Western society takes for granted ‘the body’ and compare to cross cultural accounts of how bodies are made meaningful. This will lead you to consider how ‘culture’ shapes the body, and raise questions such as: How do new biomedical technologies change the ways in which people think about bodies? What connections can be drawn from these contemporary concerns with body size and health?As Part 2 of ‘Health, Illness and Bodies in Contemporary Society’, the module will continue themes introduced in Part 1 such as ‘ edicalisation', the ’ new public health’ and explaining health inequalities, but we will expand beyond the lens of health and illness. You will have the opportunity to explore specific topics relating to bodies and embodiment in contemporary society – for example, tattooing, body size, contraception, sport, fashion and identity - and in so doing will cultivate skills in research, writing and presentation of ideas. This module is recommended for students from sociology, anthropology, or the Flexible honours degree. There are no prerequisites, but a basic knowledge of sociology and anthropology is an advantage for the completion of the module.

Module aims - intentions of the module

Understanding how societies and cultures shape bodies is critical to understanding the meanings and experiences of health and illness in contemporary society. The aim of the module is to introduce you to central concepts and analytic frameworks through which sociologists and anthropologists study and approach ‘the body’ in society and culture. This module will familiarise you with scholarship that takes bodies to be historically and culturally contingent and sites for important social, cultural and identity work across cultures, and to develop insights into how health, illness and deviance are experienced and governed. The module seeks to introduce you to the rich body of work being developed in sociology and anthropology around bodies and their many meanings, and the importance of critically placing bodies in cultural, power and policy contexts. You will develop research, writing and presentation skills by identifying, pursuing and communication about a topic on bodies throughout the module.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Competently demonstrate your knowledge about current sociological and anthropological work and debate on bodies as historically and culturally contingent, and as material loci of social and cultural practices, in class discussion and course work;
• 2. Competently develop complex arguments regarding specific contemporary topics concerning bodies and their relationship to topics of health and illness, social control, identity, and social inequalities - based on sociological and anthropological theory and research;

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Critically evaluate contemporary sociological and anthropological texts;
• 4. display in written and oral form an understanding of the critical approaches of these disciplines
• 5. appreciate key issues relevant to the contemporary world, and develop critical, comparative and cross-cultural insight;

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Critically demonstrate transferable skills in formulating, researching and addressing focused questions;
• 7. Critically prepare focused and comprehensive written and oral presentations;
• 8. Critically work independently and in collaboration with others;
• 9. Critically demonstrate critical and cross-cultural understanding, translation and comparison, which will be of advantage in an increasing range of professional settings.

Syllabus plan

Lecture topics may include:

-       Theorising the body

-       Categorising the body – deviance, cultural constructions, and social inequality

-       Regulating bodies – discipline and punish? Social control and beyond

-       Marking, performing and displaying bodies

-       Bodies as sites of consumption

-       Experiences of bodies and embodiment

-       Bodies of/in ethnography

-       Technologies of/and bodies

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Lock, M. and Farquhar, J. (2007) Beyond the body proper: reading the anthropology of material life.

Malacrida, C. and Low. J. (2008 ) Sociology of the body: A reader.

Shilling, C. (2005) The body in culture, technology and society.

Lucy Grealy. (1994) Autobiography of a Face New York: Harper Collins

Alice Domurat Dreger (2004) One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Victoria Pitts. (2003) In the Flesh: The Cultural Politics of Body Modification

Rich, E. and Evans, J. (2005) “Fat Ethics: The Obesity Discourse and Body Politics.” Social Theory and Health 3(4): 341-358.

Gill, R et al. (2005) Body Projects and the Regulation of Normative Masculinity Body and Society 11 (1): 37-62.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

news media, blogs and online fora

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

films and relevant feature films

Key words search

Bodies, identity, culture, power, technology