Mind, "Madness" and Society: An Introduction to the Sociology of Mental Illness
UndergraduateLTU-SOC30012024
Course information for 2024 intake View information for 2025 course intake
Enrolments for this course are closed, but you may have other options to start studying now. Book a consultation to learn more.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- 12 weeks
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Mind, "Madness" and Society: An Introduction to the Sociology of Mental Illness
About this subject
On successful completion you will be able to:
- Apply sociological concepts to understanding and analysing mental health and illness.
- Critically analyse key concepts and theories in the sociology of mental health and illness.
- Summarise and evaluate research and arguments on a specific topic in the sociology of mental health and illness at the appropriate level
- Demonstrate awareness of lived experience of mental ill-health and family care-giving.
- Mental Disorder
- Deinstitutionalisation and Community Care
- Mental Health Policy
- Human Rights
- Inequalities in Mental Illness
- The Depression "Epidemic"
- Family Caregiving
- Experiences of Mental Illness
The apparent rise in mental illness is a significant contemporary problem. In Australia, public attention has focused on the epidemic of anxiety and depressive disorders; high rates of suicide among males in rural areas; the mental health of Indigenous people, refugees, and youth; and the effects of illicit drug-use, especially ice. Can we claim that people are more distressed today, than in times past? If so, is this linked to particular changes in our social and material conditions, or is it a consequence of how we define and respond to mental illness and emotional suffering? This subject provides an introduction to sociological perspectives on mental illness. Topics include social responses to mental illness (asylum building, deinstitutionalisation and community care); the growth of psychiatry and other mental health professions; structural inequalities in mental health related to class, gender, ethnicity; the micro-politics of service provision; the rise of therapy culture; and subjective experiences of mental illness.
This is a Level 3 subject. Please consider the subject prerequisites before enrolling. This subject includes live sessions.
- Online quizzes - equivalent 800-words Multiple-choice questions on weekly required readings (20%)
- Research assignment - 1,200-words (30%)
- Essay - 2,000-words Essay topics related to key social "problems". (50%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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- QS Ranking 2024:
- 17
- Times Higher Education Ranking 2024:
- 18
Entry requirements
Others
Prerequisites: Students must have completed 30 credit points of Level two subjects.
Past La Trobe University students who have previously completed SOC2MIN (Mind, "Madness" and Society: An Introduction to the Sociology of Mental Illness) are ineligible to enrol in this subject.
Additional requirements
No additional requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
What to study next?
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
UndergraduateLAT-BUS-DEG
UndergraduateLAT-ART-DEG
Bachelor of Information Technology
UndergraduateLAT-TEC-DEG
Bachelor of Psychological Science
UndergraduateLAT-PYS-DEG
UndergraduateLAT-HSC-DEG
UndergraduateLAT-CYS-DEG
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