Teaching Sociology of Health at Moroccan Universities: Reality and Challenges

This paper addresses the issue of teaching the sociology of health in Moroccan universities. This paper is based on a dialogue with professors. At the ISPITS, students study sociology, rather than the sociology of health. In contrast, master's students study sociology of health, which is taught by professors who do not have a background in sociology of health. The content is primarily focused on defining key concepts such as sociology, family, social phenomena. Sociology is regarded as a secondary subject and receives comparatively limited time allocation in the curriculum. With regard to the Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Humanities, it should be noted that the curriculum for the first and second years of the Bachelor's degree set by the Ministry does not include the sociology of health. The department may elect to include the sociology of health in the third year of the degree programme, contingent upon the specialisation of the department's professors. Consequently, students pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Sociology in Morocco have the opportunity to study the sociology of health at only three academic institutions. Conversely, there are numerous Master's programmes that offer sociology of health. This can be attributed to the initiative and dedication of select professors in developing this area of research. It can be concluded that the incorporation of sociology in the ISPITS represents a significant acknowledgement of the value of sociological insights in understanding the complexities of health. However, this experience remains constrained by the limitations of instructional time and the lack of alignment between the content and the disciplinary focus of other academic fields. One of the contradictions of the sociology of health in humanities faculties is the increase in the number of graduate students specialising in the sociology of health, despite the exclusion of this discipline from the bachelor's degree.