Introduction

The Health & Society Minor offers a multidisciplinary exploration of issues pertaining to health, illness and society from perspectives inherent to the social sciences and humanities. Examples of issues that can be pursued in the Minor are:

• Why do Canadian women live longer than men but suffer more illnesses?
• Why are wealthier people healthier?
• How do different cultures conceptualize illness and health?
• How are health issues represented by the media and arts, and how do these representations reflect or frame our understanding of disease and the health care system?
• How have representations of health and disease changed over time?

The Health & Society Minor exposes students to a wide range of approaches to studying health, and can serve as an excellent introduction to the health field for undergraduate students considering further studies in the health professions.