Module Identifier HY37530  
Module Title THE RISE OF MODERN MEDICINE 1750-2000  
Academic Year 2002/2003  
Co-ordinator Dr Steven Thompson  
Semester Intended for use in future years  
Next year offered N/A  
Next semester offered N/A  
Mutually Exclusive HA37530  
Course delivery Lecture   18 Hours 18 x 1 hour  
  Seminars / Tutorials   10 Hours 10 x 1 hour  
Assessment Semester Exam   3 Hours   60%  
  Semester Assessment   1 x 2,500 word essay, 1 x 4,000 word essay   40%  

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. Describe and evaluate modern developments in medicine and health services in Europe and north America;
2. Critically consider the social, economic and political contexts of developments in medicine and medical services;
3. Evaluate the impact of scientific medicine on the lives of individuals in the past;
4. Analyse primary historical sources in a critical and intelligent manner;
5. Articulate arguments by written and oral means with an awareness of the contemporary and historiographical controversies involved.

Brief description

This course offers an introduction to the political, social and intellectual aspects of medicine and health-care as they developed in western Europe and America in the modern period. It will examine how ‘orthodox’ practitioners utilised Enlightenment notions of reason, rationality and scientific truth in their battle with rival systems of medicine and successfully attained official recognition and political and social pre-eminence. This development of the medical profession and medical knowledge will be situated in the context of the modern rise of nation-states and the processes of industrialisation and urbanisation.

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
Anne Hardy. (2001) Health and Medicine in Britain since 1860. Basingstoke
H. Jones. (1994) Health and Society in Twentieth Century Britain. London
C. Lawrence. (1994) Medicine in the Making of Modern Britain 1700-1920. London
I. Loudon (ed.). (1997) Western Medicine. Oxford
R. Porter. (1997) The Greatest Benefit to Mankind. A Medical History of Humanity from Antiquity to the Present. London
Andrew Wear (ed.). (1992) Medicine and Society, Historical Essays. Cambridge
W. F. Bynum and R. Porter (eds.). (1993) The Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine. London