HSOC 430 Disease and Society
Offered:Fall 2008
Aronowitz R 1:30-4:30
This course fulfills the Capstone Research Requirement for HSOC and STSC majors.
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 In this seminar, students will ask and answer these questions by analyzing historical documents, scientific reports, and historical scholarship (primarily 19th and 20th century U.S. and European).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.
