Courses
HSOC Capstone Courses
Offered: Fall 2009
These courses are open to all students, but any of these satisfies the Capstone requirement for HSOC and STSC majors if taken during spring term junior year or fall term senior year.
HSOC 404 Urban Environment (ENVS 404)
HSOC 408 Urban Asthmas Epidemic (ENVS 408)
HSOC 421 Medicine and Development
STSC 428 Genetics and Social Policy
HSOC 430 Disease and Society
HSOC 471 Guns and Health
HSOC Freshman Seminars
Offered: Fall 2009
STSC 021 From Darwin to DNA
STSC 028 Science, Magic and Religion
HSOC 049 AIDS and Power
HSOC 052 The Autism Epidemic
HSOC 059 Medical Missionaries/Community Partners
STSC 061 Text Message: From telegraph to mobile phone
HSOC Introductory Courses
Offered: Fall 2009
HSOC 001 Emergence of Modern Science
HSOC 002 Medicine in History
STSC 026 Philosophy of Time and Space
HSOC 100 Introduction to Sociological Research
STSC 100 History of American Science
HSOC 135 Politics of Food
HSOC 145 Comparative Medicine
STSC 160 The Information Age
STSC 001 Emergence of Modern Science
Cross-listed as HSOC 001, STSC 001
Offered: Fall 2009
Adams MW 11-12 + rec
Core requirement for STSC Major
Fulfills Sector IV or Sector VII requirement in the College
During the last 500 years, science has emerged as a central and transformative force that continues to reshape everyday life in countless ways. This introductory course will survey the emergence of the scientific world view from the Renaissance through the end of the 20th century. By focusing on the life, work, and cultural contexts of those who created modern science, we will explore their core ideas and techniques, where they came from, what problems they solved, what made them controversial and exciting, and how they related to contemporary religious beliefs, politics, art, literature, and music. The course is organized chronologically and thematically. In short, this is a “Western Civ” course with a difference, open to students at all levels.
HSOC 002 Medicine in History
Cross-listed as STSC 002 & HIST 036
Offered: Fall 2009
Barnes TR 10:30-12 + recitation
HSOC Core Discipline Course
Fulfills Sector II requirement in the College
This course surveys the history of medical knowledge and practice from antiquity to the present. No prior background in the history of science or medicine is required. The course has two principal goals: (1) to give students a practical introduction to the fundamental questions and methods of the history of medicine, and (2) to foster a nuanced, critical understanding of medicine’s complex role in contemporary society.
The course takes a broadly chronological approach, blending the perspectives of the patient, the physician, and society as a whole—recognizing that medicine has always aspired to “treat” healthy people as well as the sick and infirm. Rather than history "from the top down" or "from the bottom up," this course sets its sights on history from the inside out. This means, first, that medical knowledge and practice is understood through the personal experiences of patients and caregivers. It also means that lectures and discussions will take the long-discredited knowledge and treatments of the past seriously, on their own terms, rather than judging them by today’s standards. Required readings consist largely of primary sources, from elite medical texts to patient diaries. Short research assignments will encourage students to adopt the perspectives of a range of actors in various historical eras.
HSOC 049 Aids and Power *NEW*
Offered: Fall 2009
Crane R 1:30-4:30
Freshman Seminar
Epidemics demonstrate the connections between people and places in dramatic and often tragic ways, with routes of contagion and intervention often throwing social, economic and political inequalities into sharp relief. In the last three decades AIDS has gone from an unknown and localized illness in central Africa to a mysterious “gay cancer” among young men in California and New York, to a worldwide pandemic that is transforming global health funding, pharmaceutical regulation, national demographics, international science, and social movements.
It is impossible to study HIV/AIDS without also engaging with questions of power. Since its inception, the epidemic has been said to travel along the ‘fault lines of society’, wreaking its greatest impact on individuals and communities already marginalized on the basis of economics, race, sexual orientation, gender, addiction, and/or geography. At the same time, HIV/AIDS has given rise to powerful new institutions and personalities in scientific research, humanitarian aid, and patient advocacy around the world.
In this course we will use readings in anthropology, sociology, history, and cultural studies to explore the science and politics of HIV and AIDS in the U.S. and globally. We will learn how power disparities have shaped disease risk, prevention, and access to treatment, but also examine ways in which people and communities have become empowered via HIV/AIDS, giving rise to new identities and social movements. We will explore how questions of scientific discovery, credit, and ownership have been refracted through AIDS science, and how the globalization of HIV research is engendering new power dynamics between wealthy former colonial powers and postcolonial nations that are “resource-poor” but “patient-rich.” Lastly, we will use HIV/AIDS as a lens through which to think about the dynamic relationship between power, the body, and the production of scientific and cultural knowledge.
HSOC 052 The Autism Epidemic: From cells to society *NEW*
Offered: Fall 2009
Mandell TR 3-4:30
Freshman Seminar
The CDC estimates that 1 in 150 children have autism. Three decades ago, this number was 1 in 5,000. The communities in which these children are identified in ever increasing numbers are ill prepared to meet their needs. Scientists have struggled to understand the causes of this disorder, its treatment, and why it appears to be rapidly increasing. Families, policy makers, schools and the healthcare system have argued bitterly in the press and in the courts about the best way to care for these children and the best ways to pay for this care.
In this class, we will use autism as a case study to understand how psychiatric and developmental disorders of childhood come to be defined over time, their biological and environmental causes identified, and treatments developed. We will also discuss the identification and care of these children in the broader context of the American education and healthcare systems. By the end of this course, it is expected that
students will:
--Be familiar with the presentation, epidemiology, causes and treatment of autism;
--Understand the strategies involved in advancing science in these areas;
--Understand the organization, financing and delivery of care to children with autism in the United States;
--Be able to critically evaluate related research;
--Make specific, practical suggestions about the next stages of autism research and ways to improve care.
HSOC 059 Medical Missionaries and Community Partners: Great Medical Missionaries to Community Partners: Great ideas in the name of Public Health
Offered: Fall 2009
Bream W 4-7
Global health is an increasingly popular goal for many modern leaders. Yet critics see evidence of a new imperialism in various aid programs. We will examine the evolution over time and place of programs designed to improve the health of underserved populations. Traditionally categorized as public health programs or efforts to achieve a just society, these programs often produce results that are inconsistent with these goals. We will examine the benefits and risks of past programs and conceptualize future partnerships on both a local and global stage. Students should expect to question broadly held beliefs about the common good and service. Ultimately we will examine the concept of partnership and the notion of community health, in which ownership, control, and goals are shared between outside expert and inside community member.
HSOC 100 Introduction to Sociological Research
Cross-listed as SOCI 100
Offered: Fall 2009
Gibson MW 4-5 + rec
Fulfills HSOC Quantitative Requirement
Fulfills College Quantitative Requirement
This course provides a board overview of how sociologists gather and analyze information to generate and test hypotheses about the social world. We begin by covering key building blocks of sociological research: theory, measurement, and sampling. Then, we review a variety of research designs and analytic approaches. Finally, we take a critical perspective on social research discussing topics of research ethics, objectivity, and whether research findings should be used to inform policy. The emphasis in the course will be on training students to develop a healthy skepticism and to be intelligent consumers, and we will regularly discuss and evaluate research examples found in mainstream news sources. Students will also gain hands on experience with survey and qualitative research through course research products.
Syllabus
HSOC 111 Health of Populations
Cross-listed as SOCI 111
Offered: Fall 2009
Preston MWF 11-12
Fulfills HSOC Quantitative Requirement
Fulfills College Quantitative Requirement
This course develops some of the major measures used to assess the health of populations and uses those measures to consider the major factors that determine levels of health in large aggregates. These factors include disease environment, medical technology, public health initiatives, and personal behaviors. The approach is comparative and historical and includes attention to differences in health levels among major social groups.
HSOC 135 The Politics of Food and Agriculture
Cross-listed as PSCI 135, GAFL 135
Offered: Fall 2009
Summers W 3:30-6:30
Academically Based Community Service (ABCS)
A Fox Leadership Program Seminar
This seminar will explore the politics and institutions that have shaped –and continue to shape-- food production, consumption and problems like food insecurity and obesity here in West Philadelphia and around the world. Students will use the readings and their community service experience to analyze the politics of food in many different arenas: from kitchens, farms, schools, and factories to corporate boardrooms, research institutions, children’s television, and international trade. The primary focus will be on American politics; but there will also be opportunities to develop international and comparative perspectives on food and agriculture issues. Academic course work will include weekly readings, class and blackboard participation, and several papers. Service work will include an individual or group project related to your service placement and a final report. Typically the first half of each class will be devoted to a discussion of the readings and the second either to group work and discussion of students’ service projects or to a course speaker.
The goals of this course are to help students develop an understanding of politics through a study of changes over time in how societies produce, distribute/ market and consume food with a special focus on American politics and food systems, and to use the community service component of the course to give students “hands-on” experience with organizing efforts and institutions related to the politics of food and to develop skills and knowledge important to effective citizenship.
HSOC 145 Comparative Medicine
Cross-listed as HIST 146
Offered: Fall 2009
Feierman MW 12-1 + rec
Fulfills Sector II, History and Tradition
Fulfills Cross-Cultural Analysis
This course explores the medical consequences of the interaction between Europe and the “non-West” It focuses on three parts of the world Europeans colonized: Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. Today’s healing practices in these regions grew out of the interaction between the medical traditions of the colonized and those of the European colonizers. We therefore explore the nature of the interactions. What was the history of therapeutic practices that originated in Africa or South Asia? How did European medical practices change in the colonies? What were the effects of colonial racial and gender hierarchies on medical practice? How did practitioners of “non-Western” medicine carve out places for themselves? How did they redefine ancient traditions? How did patients find their way among multiple therapeutic traditions? How does biomedicine take a different shape when it is practiced under conditions of poverty, or of inequalities in power? How do today’s medical problems grow out of this history? This is a fascinating history of race and gender, of pathogens and conquerors, of science and the body. It tells about the historical and regional roots of today’s problems in international medicine.
HSOC 148 (Fall) Medicine & Lit 1650-1850
Cross-listed as ENGL 085
Offered: Fall 2009
Wahlert TR 4:30-6
HSOC 238 Medical Anthropology
Cross-listed as ANTH 238
Offered: Fall 2009
Barg MW 2-3 + recitation
HSOC Core Discipline Course
Introduction to medical anthropology takes central concepts in anthropology -- culture, adaptation, human variation, belief, political economy, the body -- and applies them to human health and illness. Students explore key elements of healing systems including healing technologies and healer-patient relationships. Modern day applications for medical anthropology are stressed.
HSOC 275 Medical Sociology
Cross-listed as SOCI 275
Offered: Fall 2009
Koppel TR 12-1:30
HSOC Core Discipline Course
This course is designed to provide an introduction to the sociological study of medicine. Although the field of medical sociology is broad, we will attempt to cover as much of the field as possible through four central thematic units: (i) the profession of medicine, (ii) the organization and delivery of health care, (iii) social and cultural factors in defining illness, and (iv) the social causes of illness. Along the way, we will encourage the application of a sociological perspective to a variety of contemporary medical issues.
HSOC 311 Science, Medicine and the Media
Cross-listed as HSOC 311
Offered: Fall 2009
Wolfe, Audra W 3:30-6:30
This course is an introduction to the history and the contemporary state of science journalism. Public understanding of science, medicine and technology is critical to a society that must make informed decisions about health, the environment, and economic growth, but the relationship between science and the public is complex. The course explores not only how books, newspapers, television, films, podcasts, and blogs have shaped our understanding of science and scientists, but also the contexts in which these media are created.
HSOC 351 The History of the Doctor-Patient Relationship
Offered: Fall 2009
Walls T 1:30-4:30
This course will examine the nature and history of the doctor-patient relationship from the era of Hippocrates through the present. The doctor- patient relationship has evolved in a parallel fashion to the practice of medicine and its institutions. Historical, cultural, scientific, social and economic forces have impacted it and shaped it into what it is today. The goal is to better understand the complicated and often controversial relationship between doctor and patient.
The course will trace these developments and their implications for this complex and intimate relationship. Lecture, discussion, film and group participation will be utilized and guest speakers may be utilized. Course materials will include some fiction as well as a series of readings. Course requirements include several written assignments, a group presentation and a final paper/project.
HSOC 381 Nonstranger Violence *NEW*
Cross-listed as STSC 381, GSOC 381
Offered: Fall 2009
Sorenson T 1:30-4:30
The purpose of this course is for students to learn about the definitions, conceptual frameworks, myths, processes, consequences, and societal interventions regarding violence in relationships. Using a life course perspective, addressing abuse from childhood through late life, the course will examine how gender and generational differences in resource distribution, role expectations, etc. shape the occurrence, experience, and response to violence in relationships.
Particulars: No books, no exams. Readings posted on Blackboard. Three short papers. Will try to arrange for a field experience (emergency department, protection from abuse order court observation, etc.)
Note: Previous versions of this course have been offered at UCLA, and at Penn in Criminology.
HSOC 404 Urban Environment: West Philadelphia
Cross-listed as ENVS 404
Offered: Fall 2009
Pepino TR 10:30-12
Fulfills the HSOC and STSC Capstone requirement
Lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, impaired hearing, behavioral problems and at very high levels, seizures, coma and even death. Young children up to the age of six are especially at risk because of their developing systems. They often ingest lead chips and dust while playing in their home and yards.
In ENVS 404, Penn undergraduates will learn about the epidemiology of lead poisoning, the pathways of exposure, and methods for community outreach and education. Penn students will collaborate with middle school and high school teachers in West Philadelphia to engage middle school children in exercises that apply environmental research relating to lead poisoning to their homes and neighborhoods.
HSOC 406 Community-Based Environmental Health
Cross-listed as ENVS 406
Offered: Spring 2009
Pepino TR 1:30-3
ABCS Course
Benjamin Franklin Seminar
[crosslisted from the Earth and Environmental Studies Department]
HSOC 408 Urban Asthma Epidemic
Cross-listed as ENVS 408
Offered: Fall 2009
Kulik TR 1:30-3
Fulfills the HSOC and STSC Capstone requirement
Asthma as a pediatric chronic disease is undergoing a dramatic and unexplained increase. It has become the #1 cause of public school absenteeism and now accounts for a significant number of childhood deaths each year in the USA. The Surgeon General of the United States has characterized childhood asthma as an epidemic. In ENVS 408, Penn undergraduates learn about the epidemiology of urban asthma, the debate about the probable causes of the current asthma crisis, and the nature and distribution of environmental factors that modern medicine describes as potential triggers of asthma episodes.
Penn students will collaborate with the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) on a clinical research study entitled the Community Asthma Prevention Program. The Penn undergraduates will co-teach with CHOP parent educators asthma classes offered at community centers in Southwest, West, and North Philadelphia. The CHOP study gives the Penn students the opportunity to apply their study of the urban asthma epidemic to real world situations.
HSOC 421 Medicine and Development
Cross-listed as HIST 471
Offered: Fall 2009
Feierman T 1:30-4:30
Fulfills the HSOC and STSC Capstone requirement
This course includes readings and research on how medicine relates to the process of development in resource-poor countries. The first eight weeks of the semester are taken up with a combination of readings and research planning. The remainder of the semester is given over to the development and presentation of research projects. Students are expected not only to complete their own projects, but also to participate as consultants in the research of others.
Readings will include studies of the relationship between poverty and health, studies of particular diseases and efforts to eradicate them, discussions of gender and health priorities, and debates over the proper balance between economic growth and health initiatives in poor countries.
We will also look at searching critiques of the entire development process. James Ferguson, in The Anti-Politics Machine, for example, argues that the role of technical expertise in development planning is to remove fundamental political issues from the democratic process, and to make them technical questions that are outside politics.
Students will have the opportunity to shape, develop, and complete their own research projects. Research methods, problems, and results, will be discussed in class all through the semester
HSOC 430 Disease and Society
Cross-listed as STSC 430
Offered: Fall 2009
Aronowitz R 1:30-4:30
Fulfills the HSOC and STSC Capstone requirement
What is disease? How do the beliefs, politics, and economies of particular societies shape how diseases are defined, experienced, and treated? In this seminar, students will ask and answer these questions by analyzing historical documents, scientific reports, and historical scholarship (primarily 19th and 20th century U.S. and European). We will look at disease from as a biological process, clinical entity, population phenomenon, historical actor, and personal experience. We will pay special attention to how diseases have been recognized, diagnosed, named, and classified in different eras, cultures, and professional settings. The course will begin with a review of major approaches to understanding the relationship between disease and society. The remainder of the course will view disease and society relationships through the lens of specific issues, such as epidemic disease, social and environmental determinants of health, globalization, risk, and prevention. Special attention will be given to developing analytic and writing skills through the reading and writing of review essays.
HSOC 471 Guns and Health *NEW*
Cross-listed as STSC 471, PUBH 534
Offered: Fall 2009
Sorenson M 2-5
Fulfills the HSOC and STSC Capstone requirement
The purpose of this course is for students to gain an understanding of:
▪ the role of guns in health, and
▪ population and prevention approaches to violence.
The course will include a focus on policies and regulations related to firearms, the primary mechanism by which violence-related fatalities occur in the U.S. We will address the life span of a gun, from design and manufacture through to use. In addition, we will address key aspects of the social context in which firearms exist and within which firearm policy is made.
Particulars: Readings posted on Blackboard. No books, no exams. Two field experiences 1) learning about gun safety & firing a range of weapons at a shooting range; 2) learning about firearm sales via gun store, gun show, or websites. One field report, one short paper, one longer paper. The final paper, if a longer research proposal, can be used to fulfill the HSOC Capstone requirement.
Note: Previous versions of this course have been given at UCLA, and at Penn in Criminology.
HSOC 499 Independent Study
Offered: Spring 2009
Staff
In order to receive permission to register for an independent study, a student must submit a form to the department that outlines the project and is signed by the supervisor.
