Please answer by this instruction:
How is mental illness understood, analyzed, and potentially treated from the perspective of sociology? How do ideas, practices, and values come into being, gain meaning and significance, get reproduced, and undergo transformations relative to mental illness? How do certain social ideas and practices both reflect and reinforce the social structures of which they form a part? Is there room for resistance against oppressive forms of society that actually or potentially contribute to mental illness? In particular, what is the relationship between forms of society and the intersecting social locations of class, race, gender, and sexuality? What methods or means of exploring are best suited to questions raised in the broad area that comprises the study of the sociology of mental illness? What does it mean in a particular society to be considered “normal” or “abnormal?” These are some of the questions that our course on the sociology of mental illness will consider.In considering these questions, this course has as its master theme the question of society in relation to questions of mental illness and well-being. We will consider the significance of how different forms and sources of power – political, epistemological, physical, and psychological – inform the questions surrounding mental illness and well-being, and we will reflect on whether and to what extent the role(s) of society are bound up with expressions both personal and collective relative to illness and flourishing. The answers to such questions will then lead us to consider if and how social assumptions and practices might be transformed in the service of particular political, practical, and ethical aims. Our overall objective is to explore analyses and critiques of society from a number of theoretical perspectives in order to approach our worlds from both a more critical and a more curious fashion.
How is mental illness understood, analyzed, and potentially treated from the perspective of sociology? How do ideas, practices, and values come into being, gain meaning and significance, get reproduced, and undergo transformations relative to mental illness? How do certain social ideas and practices both reflect and reinforce the social structures of which they form a part? Is there room for resistance against oppressive forms of society that actually or potentially contribute to mental illness? In particular, what is the relationship between forms of society and the intersecting social locations of class, race, gender, and sexuality? What methods or means of exploring are best suited to questions raised in the broad area that comprises the study of the sociology of mental illness? What does it mean in a particular society to be considered “normal” or “abnormal?” These are some of the questions that our course on the sociology of mental illness will consider.In considering these questions, this course has as its master theme the question of society in relation to questions of mental illness and well-being. We will consider the significance of how different forms and sources of power – political, epistemological, physical, and psychological – inform the questions surrounding mental illness and well-being, and we will reflect on whether and to what extent the role(s) of society are bound up with expressions both personal and collective relative to illness and flourishing. The answers to such questions will then lead us to consider if and how social assumptions and practices might be transformed in the service of particular political, practical, and ethical aims. Our overall objective is to explore analyses and critiques of society from a number of theoretical perspectives in order to approach our worlds from both a more critical and a more curious fashion. -Critique concepts and analyses, evaluating their capabilities and limitations;-Compose a well-organized, carefully thought-out, and original final paper; -Recognize and analyze concepts and practices in order to identify potential interventions or transformations aimed at addressing issues of human freedom, happiness, justice, and well-being.
THIS IS OUR READING YOU MUST READ:
1. Introduction to Seminar – ‘Soft Open’ and Discussion of Main Class PointsMarx, Karl – “The Communist Manifesto” pp. 473-491: http://sandiegodsa.org/Marx/karl-marx-friedrich-engels-the-marx-engels-reader.pdf
2. Nietzsche, Friedrich – The Genealogy of Morals Essay #1 “Good and Evil,” “Good and Bad” – https://www.gutenberg.org/files/52319/52319-h/52319-h.htm
3. Freud, Sigmund – Civilization and Its Discontents Parts 1-4 : file:///C:/Users/15413/Downloads/FreudS-CIVILIZATION-AND-ITS-DISCONTENTS-text-final.pdf
4. Freud, Sigmund – Civilization and Its Discontents Parts 5-8:file:///C:/Users/15413/Downloads/FreudS-CIVILIZATION-AND-ITS-DISCONTENTS-text-final.pdf
5. Weber, Max – The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Part 1 (all); Part 2 (only section 5): https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2013/SOC571E/um/_Routledge_Classics___Max_Weber-The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism__Routledge_Classics_-Routledge__2001_.pdf
6. Firestone, Shulamith – The Dialectic of Sex Chapters 1, 3, 10, Conclusion: http://biopolitics.kom.uni.st/Shulamith%20Firestone/The%20Dialectic%20of%20Sex_%20The%20Case%20for%20Feminist%20Revolution%20(139)/The%20Dialectic%20of%20Sex_%20The%20Case%20for%20Feminis%20-%20Shulamith%20Firestone.pdf
7. Fanon, Frantz – Black Skin, White Masks – Introduction; Chapters 6 & 8: https://libcom.org/files/[Frantz_Fanon]_Black_Skin,_White_Masks_(Pluto_Clas(BookZZ.org).pdf
8.Week Eight – The Question of The Medicalization of Life pt. 1Illich, Ivan – Medical Nemesis – Chapter 2: https://ratical.org/ratville/AoS/MedicalNemesis.pdf
9. Foucault, Michel – Foucault Reader – pp. 169-233: https://monoskop.org/images/f/f6/Rabinow_Paul_ed_The_Foucault_Reader_1984.pdf
10. Marcuse, Herbert – Eros and Civilization – Chapters 6 & 10: http://freudians.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Marcuse-Eros-and-Civilization-Part-II-Beyond-the-Reality-Principle.pdf
THIS IS FINAL PROMPT, PLEASE MUST ANSWER BY THE GRADING RUBRIC!!!!!!!
1. Throughout the quarter we’ve been reading various authors and texts with an eye to how they explicitly or implicitly discuss how and why certain social/cultural structures impact individual and collective mental health.
Please compose a 4-page essay that includes the following:
1. Pick at least two of the readings/authors that we’ve discussed – or are about to discuss during our final few weeks of class. First, explain what the main argument of the author/text is. In other words, what are the central points being made relative to mental illness or well-being.
2. Compare and contrast the two authors/texts – that is, do they share points in common? Or are they at odds with one another?
3. Finally, do you find one of the authors/texts more persuasive? Why? This can include a discussion of any things you find missing in an argument – did author x not consider social/cultural structure y? Or do you find both persuasive – perhaps for similar or perhaps for different but equally valid reasons? Or do you find neither persuasive – for similar or different reasons.