The course provides the student with a background on the social determinants of health and their role in the health disparities of the population. The student will develop the knowledge and basic skills to discuss how structural bias and social inequities affect the population, producing disparities in health. Through readings, critical reflections, discussions and presentations, the inequities that arise from macro social determinants (political, economic, social and public, sociocultural values), social stratification categories (income, class, gender, occupation, education, race/ethnicity), social environment (housing, neighborhood and work conditions), and social and collective behavior will be studied. At the end of the course the student will analyze the socioeconomic and political factors that affect the health of the population and challenge the achievement of equity in health at the organizational, community and social levels.

Este curso está dirigido a brindar un mejor entendimiento de las fuerzas sociales que han moldeado el mundo en que vivimos. Introduce al estudiantado a los problemas básicos del ser humano en la sociedad contemporánea tales como la incorporación de la persona en las relaciones de poder, las relaciones de producción y aplica el análisis económico político al caso de Puerto Rico.

“CISO 3122. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES. Three credit hours per semester. Three hours of lecture per week each semester. Prerequisite: CISO 3121. This course is directed toward a better understanding of the social forces that have produced the world in which we live. It introduces the student to the basic problems of man in contemporary society, such as the incorporation of the individual in society, population pressure, wealth and freedom.”