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We live in an era when health and healthcare present unique challenges and opportunities for societies throughout the globe. While there are new advances, innovations, and healthcare technologies, there are also increasing inequalities, increasing costs, changing social and ethical issues, emerging health problems (like mental illness and addiction), health policy challenges and a number of other health and quality of life issues. Students of the Health & Society program examine these important issues and address them through the critical, constructive lens of social sciences.

  • Limited enrollment program
  • Emphasis on experiential education and research
  • Students learn about the social impacts of health from different perspectives, with faculty members from a variety of disciplines such as Economics, Sociology, Geography, Social Work, Political Science, and more
  • Community-partnered research and other learning opportunities
  • Exclusive Level I course, events and personal support.
  • Through our partnership with Mohawk College, you can earn a college certificate while completing your degree. Earn a Mohawk College certificate in one of the following areas:
    • Business Studies
    • Disability Management
    • Leadership and Management in the Not-for-Profit Sector.

Housed within the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Office of Experiential Education (EE) offers students many opportunities to connect their academic learning to work experience, career planning and the community around them. We offer the following services to students in any of our degree programs, including Health & Society:

  • Placements/Internships
  • Career and Networking Events
  • Experiential Education Courses
  • Grants and Awards

Field Experience

In the study of Health & Society, experience in the field is necessary
to help our students put theory and methods into practice. Students have the opportunity to take either HLTH AGE 3BB3: Field Experience or HLTH AGE 3EE3: The Practice of Everyday Life: Observations and Inquiry. Both of these courses offer students the opportunity to observe, gain experience, and interact in a community agency or institution, in order to augment their knowledge and understanding of health programs and policies. Alongside these opportunities, there is a focus upon active learning throughout our programs via invited speakers and discussion groups with older adult volunteers.

Student Testimonials

Emily Cichonski

Emily Cichonski

“Before I came to university, my goal was to work in a hospital. I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do in a hospital or how I would get there, but I always knew that is where I wanted to be.” Read more

Your Classes

What You’ll Take:

  • Inquiry: Introduction to Health and Society (HLTHAGE 1ZZ3)
  • Introduction to Aging and Society (HLTHAGE 1BB3)
  • Introduction to Mental Health and Illness (HLTHAGE 1CC3)
  • 9 units from a select course list
  • 12 units of electives

Learn more about Health and Society I requirements here.

After successful completion of Health & Society I, students will enter one of the following degree programs:

  • Honours Health & Society
    • Specialization in Mental Health and Addiction
  • Honours Aging & Society
    • Specialization in Mental Health and Addiction
  • Combined Honours Aging & Society and Health & Society
  • Combined Honours Health & Society and Another Subject
  • Combined Honours Aging & Society and Another Subject
  • B.A. in Health, Aging & Society
  • Option to enter other programs depending on eligibility

McMaster Social Sciences + Mohawk Affiliated Certificates

Through our partnership with Mohawk College, you can earn a college certificate while completing your degree – exclusively available to all Social Sciences students, including Health & Society students.

Certificate options include:

Specialization in Mental Health and Addiction

The Specialization and Minor in Mental Health and Addiction provide students with the opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of the relationship between mental health, addiction, and society. It involves examining the links between mental health and wider social processes, including marginalization, the construction of deviance, and the social determinants of health.

Students will also gain a solid understanding of mental illness and some of the ways in which social changes and other non-biomedical interventions can be harnessed to address issues related to mental health and addiction and promote well-being.

For a full list of courses that can be available in this program, please consult the academic calendar.

Admissions