AP/SOSC 3115 3.00

Selected Topics in Health and Society: Wellness & Wellbeing: Critical Perspectives

Today, concepts of wellness and wellbeing prevail in both popular and medical discourses about health. But what do these concepts really mean? When, how, and why have they come to predominate so centrally in our culture, as well as various institutional settings (such as schools, workplaces, prisons)? How do these paradigms shape our understanding of health? And what are the implications of wellness/wellbeing concepts for a social determinants of health framework, especially when considered through equity lenses, such as race, Indigeneity, gender, gender/sexual-identity, disability and class? In this course we will explore these questions and review critical perspectives that analyze the value and the purpose of “wellness” and “wellbeing” as a health paradigm.

(From time to time, depending on the availability of faculty, courses are offered to deal with topics of special interest to students in the Health and Society Program. Please consult the social science supplementary calendar for more details)