Spring 2012
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 12-1:30pm, or by appt. Office: Pearlman 207
Teaching Fellow: Brian Fair Email: bpf@brandeis.edu
Office Hours: Mondays, 1-2pm, or by appt. Office: Pearlman 104
Introduction
From the moment we are born, to when we die, our lives are shaped by science, technology, and
medicine. This course draws on both historical and contemporary case studies to examine how science
and medicine enter into our ideas about who we are as individuals and members of social groups, our
understandings of health and illness, and our ideals regarding what constitutes a good life, and a good
death. This semester, the course will focus on five central categories of human life and social
organization that have been reshaped by contemporary biomedical science and technology: 1) birth; 2)
self; 3) gender; 4) race; 5) mortality.
This course satisfies the Oral Communications (OC) component of the general university
requirements.
1. Explore diverse sociological perspectives on science, technology, and medicine;
2. Gain insight into core sociological concepts -- including identity, gender, race, medicalization,
and embodiment -- as they can be applied to and developed within studies of science,
technology, and medicine;
3. Consider how dimensions of social organization shape individual experiences and social
understandings of science, technology, and medicine;
4. Critically examine the language of biomedical science and its effects;
5. Develop oral communications skills via in class exercises, assignments, and individual and small
group presentations, which will enhance students’ abilities to
a. communicate and listen effectively in a range of contexts.
b. critically evaluate orally presented information and arguments.
c. consider specific techniques for using language as a communication tool.
1) Attendance and Engagement with Readings
This course covers a lot of material, and attendance to both lecture and journal clubs is expected.
Consistent absences will be noted and reflected in your final grade. Laptops are allowed but ONLY for
taking notes or examining readings. Other observed uses of your laptop will result in a reduction of your
participation grade. You are also expected to bring readings, along with your notes on the readings, to
class. Please be sure to do the reading thoroughly before the class for which it is assigned.
I expect that you will be respectful of others in class. Examples include arriving on time, not leaving
early, listening when others speak, not monopolizing discussion time, and not having side-discussions.
Please turn cell phones and pagers off.
2) Response Papers
During the course of the semester, you are required to turn in five response papers which address the set
of readings for that week. Your paper should concisely summarize the key themes presented in the week’s
readings (~1page) and then either raise questions about these themes or provide an analysis, elaboration,
or critique in your own words (1-2pp). You may refer to other readings, personal examples, current events
and newspaper articles, or other sources to reinforce your point(s). You should engage directly with the
readings and not simply reiterate information from lecture. These papers should not exceed 3 pages each.
In order to help you to help you stay on track through the semester, you are required to write a response
paper for one of the weeks in each of the following categories:
Response Paper 1 -- Week 3 or 4
Response Paper 2 -- Week 5 or Week 6
Response Paper 3 -- Week 7 or Week 8
Response Paper 4 -- Week 9 or Week 10
Response Paper 5 -- Week 11 or Week 12
Please view response papers as writing/thinking exercises. Use them to engage the week's materials,
respond with questions, criticisms and new ideas they suggest, and put into words your thoughts about
these topics!
No credit will be given for response papers turned in late.
3) Leading Journal Club Meetings and Talking Points Memo
At the conclusion of each set of readings, we will meet in “journal clubs.” These small groups will give
you an opportunity to enhance each other’s understanding of a specific category/theme (e.g., birth, self,
gender, race, (im)mortality) by providing an overview of readings other than those we did together as a
class. The journal clubs will also provide you with a forum for doing a short presentation in front of a
small group, as part of the OC component of the course.
For your presentation, you can select any article from the peer reviewed literature in science, medicine,
bioethics, social science, or public policy (we will talk more about what this means!). I encourage you to
draw on your strengths in selecting the article. Choose something interesting to you, related to your
major, or personally compelling! A list of possible readings is included at the end of the syllabus, but you
are encouraged to go beyond this list to find articles, as well.
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You are always welcome to bring relevant newspaper articles to class, but for this assignment, you cannot
use a newspaper article.
Each student will do one journal club presentation. Depending on the final size of the class, there will be
approximately 5 presentations in each journal club meeting. This means that 1) students need to
coordinate amongst themselves to make sure that each student is presenting a unique reading; 2) each
student’s presentation should be no more than 10 minutes long (so that there is time for Q&A). You are
encouraged – but not required – to meet as a group before doing your presentations to your journal club.
Additionally, you are required to provide your classmates (approximately 25 in each club) with a “talking
points memo” of the article you are presenting in journal club. In no more than 3 pages, this memo
should provide:
2) A summary of the article that describes
a. What are the key findings? What about these findings is intriguing, important, surprising?
What do they make you think about or see differently?
b. What research was done to produce these findings?
c. How does this article connect with the theme/category and readings that we’ve discussed
together in class?
d. Why is this an important article (For us as a class? For future research? And/or for
policy?)?
Memos must be posted to LATTE at least 24 hours *before* the journal club meeting, so that the other
members of your journal club have time to familiarize themselves with the topics that will be presented
the following day.
NOTE: The reading for any journal club day consists of the memos written by your classmates. Please
come to journal club having read the memos and prepared to ask questions of the presenters. I reserve
the right to give quizzes in journal club, if it seems like these memos are not being read.
4) Interview Assignment and Presentation
This course asks you to apply what you are learning in class to events you may observe in the world,
including your own experiences and those of people you know. Consequently, you will both write a
paper based on an interview and, in groups, you will present your analysis to the class.
Interview Paper – Due March 28
The purpose of the interview is to learn about another person’s experience of science, technology, and/or
medicine. Towards this end, you will interview someone who has used or been the recipient of practices
that derive from in biomedical knowledge or technology (broadly defined – medical advice,
pharmaceuticals, medical testing or technology, surgery, etc.), whether as a researcher, clinician, or
patient. Your goal in this interview is to learn about science, technology, and medicine from the
perspective of the person whom you are interviewing.
In class, we will discuss strategies for successful interviewing, development of interview questions, and
data analysis. In general, however, you are expected to develop a list of interview questions before
conducting the interview (and also to ask additional questions depending upon the respondent’s responses
and context). Your interview should last about an hour (though it could go longer), which is about the
amount of time it will take you to gather all the information you need for this analysis. If your first
interview is much shorter than 60 minutes, you need to choose a different respondent and/or develop
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more interview questions. The interview should be recorded (tape and digital recorders can be checked
out at the Getz Multimedia Lab; see: http://lts.brandeis.edu/teachlearn/multimedia/index.html ) or you
should take detailed notes throughout, to maximize the amount of verbatim material that will be available
for your analysis. Your respondent(s) should be chosen carefully, as their stories of their life experiences
will be the empirical foundation for your analysis.
Minimally, your interview should address these broad domains of experience:
- In what situation did your interviewee experience biomedical information or technology?
What is the story of the experience?
- What specific information or technology was a part of this experience?
- How did she learn about this information or technology? How did she gain access to it?
How was her situation communicated to her, and by whom?
- What feelings does she have about her experience of this information or technology? Was it
positive? Negative? Neutral? And for what reason(s)?
- What advice might she offer to improve the experience of others in similar situations? If she
has taken any steps to improve this experience for others, please describe them.
Your analysis will draw directly on your respondent’s account and I expect you to use direct quotes from
the interview, as evidence for your analysis. However, you must also draw on 4 or more course readings
to frame and analyze your respondent’s experiences and perspectives. You are not merely retelling your
respondent’s story, but using the material from the course – and your sociological imagination – to locate
his/her individual experiences in a broader social structural context.
(Group) Interview Presentations – April 23 & 25
In groups, you will present key themes from your interviews to your classmates. These presentations will
include information about your choice of interview subject, the content of your interview, and – most
importantly – your sociological analysis of your data. Presentations will be at the end of the semester, so
you will have the opportunity to integrate the semester’s readings into your presentation. You will get
some time in class to work on this presentation, but you should be prepared to work together as a group
outside of class, as well.
Policies for Written Work
All written papers are to be typed, double-spaced, using a 11-12-pt. Times New Roman font, with one
inch margins, and must include page numbers, proper use of citations, and bibliographies.
If you have a personal or family emergency and are unable to complete an assignment, you must speak
with me as soon as possible so we can discuss how and when you will complete the assignment. Do not
assume that you may hand in all of your assignments at the end of the course, or that you will be granted
an extension. Unexcused late papers will be marked down ½ grade for each day or part of day for which
they are late.
Assignments may not be re-written. This means you should offer your best effort the first time and ask
questions if you need clarification before completing any of the assignments. I strongly encourage you to
utilize the Brandeis Writing Center for help with your assignments.
Tips for Successful Presentations
When crafting your journal club and small group presentation, please consider the following suggestions
re: effective oral communication: 1
Clear information – no matter how lively your presentation may be, the information that you
provide needs to be clear enough for your audience to engage with what you are saying. In
general, this means including both general statements and specific, concrete details and examples
that flesh them out. You may wish to write a script for yourself, or a sketch of your presentation,
but either way, you should be prepared to speak in front of the class without reading word for
word. In order for your presentation to go smoothly, you will need to practice in front of a friend
or two, or in front of a mirror.
Audible and lively tone – your audience needs to be able to hear you in order to receive your
communication, and effective speech (as compared to the written word) requires intonation and
inflection.
Eye contact – you should look at your audience as you speak, and look at everyone rather than
focusing on a single person. Doing this partly involves taking up the space with your presence.
Again, it is important to practice this in order to get used to the feeling of being the only one
speaking, and having an audience in front of you.
Additional resources
Visual aids – it can be helpful to use more than one modality in your presentation. An oral
presentation uses sound/hearing but visual aids can add another dimension. Drawing on the
board, presenting images of some kind (including graphs or diagrams) can aid you in conveying
your ideas and information.
Audience engagement – a sure way to be sure your audience is with you is to create a way for
them to participate in the presentation. You may ask questions, involve them in a demonstration
or game, and so on. You can also use this engagement to get a sense of how well they are taking
in the information/ideas you are providing.
Grades
Attendance 10 points
Interview Paper 30 points
1 Thanks to Professor Claudia Castenada for these guidelines.
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94-99 A 74-76 C
90-93 A- 70-73 C-
87-89 B+ 67-69 D+
84-86 B 64-66 D
80-83 B- 60-63 D-
77-79 C+ <63 F
**All written and OC projects must be completed to receive a passing grade in this class**
Academic Integrity
You are expected to be familiar with and to follow the University’s policies on academic integrity.
Faculty will refer any suspected instances of alleged dishonesty to the Office of Student Development and
Conduct. Instances of academic dishonesty may result in sanctions including but not limited to failure in
the course, failure on the assignment in question, suspension from the University and/or educational
programs.
Reasonable Accommodations
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a
reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately. If you have questions
about documenting a disability or requesting academic accommodations, you should contact Beth
Rodgers-Kay in Academic Services at 736-3470.
Readings
There are four books for this class, are available at the campus bookstore and on reserve at the library:
Almeling, Rene. 2011. Sex Cells: The Medical Market for Eggs and Sperm. Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press.
Karp, David. 2006. Is it Me or My Meds?: Living with Antidepressants. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Morning, Ann. 2011. The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach About Human
Difference. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Skloot, Rebecca. 2010. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown Books.
Other course materials will be posted on LATTE.
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Week 1 Introduction
Week 2 Language and Communication in Science, Technology, and Medicine
January 23 Anspach, Renee. 1988. “Notes on the Sociology of Medical Discourse: The Language
of Case Presentation.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 29(4): 357-75.
AND: Please bring to class one newspaper article (2007-2012) that pertains to science,
technology, or medicine. Be prepared to discuss what makes this article
interesting to you.
**How to Find Articles for Journal Club**
Weeks 3&4 BIRTH
January 30 Barker, Kristin K. 1998. “A Ship Upon a Stormy Sea: The Medicalization of Pregnancy.”
Social Science and Medicine 47:1067-76.
Bell, Ann V. 2009. “It’s Way Out of My League”: Low-income Women’s
Experiences of Medicalized Infertility.” Gender & Society 23(5): 688-709.
February 1 Rapp, Rayna. 1998. “Refusing Prenatal Diagnosis: The Meanings of
Bioscience in a Multicultural World.” Science, Technology and Human Values
23(1):45-70.
February 6 Draper, Jan. 2002. “‘It Was a Real Good Show’: The Ultrasound Scan,
Fathers, and the Power of Visual Knowledge.” Sociology of Health & Illness
24(5): 771–795.
February 8 JOURNAL CLUB
Weeks 5&6 SELF
February 13 Dumit, Joseph. 2003. “Is It Me or My Brain? Depression and Neuroscientific Facts.”
Journal of Medical Humanities 24(1-2): 35-47.
Karp, David. 2006. Is it Me or My Meds? Living with Antidepressants. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
Prologue
February 15 Karp, David. 2006. Is it Me or My Meds? Living with Antidepressants. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
*** February 20-24 – Winter Break***
February 27 Karp, David. 2006. Is it Me or My Meds? Living with Antidepressants. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
February 29 JOURNAL CLUB
Week 7&8 GENDER
March 5 Epstein, Steven. 2004. “Bodily Differences and Collective Identities: The Politics of
Gender and Race in Biomedical Research in the United States.” Body & Society 10 (2-3):
183-203.
Almeling, Rene. 2011. Sex Cells: The Medical Market for Eggs and Sperm. Berkeley,
CA: University of California Press.
Introduction
March 7 Almeling, Rene. 2011. Sex Cells: The Medical Market for Eggs and Sperm. Berkeley,
CA: University of California Press.
Chapters 1-3
March 12 Almeling, Rene. 2011. Sex Cells: The Medical Market for Eggs and Sperm. Berkeley,
CA: University of California Press.
Chapters 4-5, Conclusion
March 14 JOURNAL CLUB
Week 9&10 RACE
March 19 Braun, Lundy, et al. 2007. “Racial Categories in Medical Practice: How Useful Are
They?” PLoS Medicine 4:287:1423-1428.
Morning, Ann. 2011. The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach About
Human Difference. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Introduction
March 21 Morning, Ann. 2011. The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach About
Human Difference. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Chapters 3-4
March 26 Morning, Ann. 2011. The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach About
Human Difference. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Chapters 5-6
Week 11& 12 (IM)MORTALITY
April 2 Skloot, Rebecca. 2010. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown
Books. Part 1
April 4 Skloot, Rebecca. 2010. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown
Books. Part 2
***April 6- 13 --- Spring Break***
April 16 Skloot, Rebecca. 2010. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown
Books. Part 3
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Bell, Ann V. 2010. “Beyond (Financial) Accessibility: Inequalities Within the Medicalisation of
Infertility.” Sociology of Health & Illness, 32(4), 631-646.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC). 1999. “Achievements in Public Health – Healthier Mothers
and Babies, 1900-1999.” MMWR 48(38):849-857.
Elster, Nanette. 2005. “ART for the Masses? Racial and Ethnic Inequality in Assisted Reproductive
Technologies.” DePaul Journal of Healthcare Law. 9: 1719-33.
Griel, Arthur L., McQuillian, Julia, Shreffler, Karina M., and Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins. 2011. “Race-
Ethnicity and Medical Services for Infertility: Stratified Reproduction in a Population Based Sample of
U.S. Women.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 52(4): 493-509.
Kuppermann, Miriam et al. 1999. “Who Should Be Offered Prenatal Diagnosis? American
Journal of Public Health 89:1592-3.
Moreau, Caroline, Bouyer, Jean, Ducot, Beatrice, and Remy Slama. 2010. “When Do Involuntarily
Infertile Couples Choose to Seek Medical Help?” Fertility and Sterility 93: 737-44.
SELF
Hacking, Ian. 2005. “Genetics, Biosocial Groups & the Future of Identity.” Daedalus Fall:81-95.
Haraway, Donna. 1989. “The Biopolitics of Postmodern Bodies: Determinations of Self in Immune
System Discourse.” Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies. 1:3-43.
Joyce, Kelly. 2005. “Appealing Images: Magnetic Resonance Imaging and the Production of
Authoritative Knowledge.” Social Studies of Science 35(3): 437–462.
Racine, Eric, et al. 2005. “fMRI in the Public Eye.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6(2): 159-164.
Savulescu, Julian, and Anders Sandberg. 2008. “Neuroenhancement of Love and Marriage: The
Chemicals Between Us.” Neuroethics 1 (2008): 31-44.
Shostak, Sara, Jeremy Freese, Bruce G. Link, and Jo C. Phelan. 2009. “The Politics of the Gene: Social
Status and Beliefs about Genetics for Individual Outcomes.” Social Psychology Quarterly 72(1): 77-93.
GENDER
Inhorn, Marcia C., and Emily Wentzel. 2011. “Embodying Emergent Masculinities: Reproductive and
Sexual health Technologies in the Middle East and Mexico.” American Ethnologist 38(4):801-815.
Mamo, Laura and Jennifer Ruth Fosket. 2009. “Scripting the Body: Pharmaceuticals and the (Re)Making
of Menstruation.” Signs 34: 925-49.
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Martin, Emily. 1991. “The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on
Stereotypical Male-Female Roles.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 16(3): 485-501.
Oudshoorn , Nelly. 1999. “On Masculinities, Technologies, and Pain: The Testing of Male
Contraceptives in the Clinic and the Media,” Science, Technology, and Human Values 24: 265-89.
Pietilä, Ilkka and Marja Rytkönen. 2008. “‘Health is Not a Man’s Domain’: Lay Accounts of Gender
Difference in Life-Expectancy in Russia.” Sociology of Health and Illness 30(7): 1070–1085.
Poovey, Mary. 1986. “‘Scenes of an Indelicate Character'’ The Medical ‘Treatment’ of
Victorian Women.” Representations 14: 137-168.
Richardson, Sarah. 2010. “Sexes, Species, and Genomes: Why Males and Females Are Not Like Humans
and Chimpanzees.” Biology and Philosophy 25: 823-41.
Schiebinger, Londa. 1986. “Skeletons in the Closet: The First Illustrations of the Female
Skeleton in Eighteenth-Century Anatomy.” Representations 14: 42- 82.
Springer, Kristen W. and Dawne M. Mouzon. 2011. “‘Macho Men’ and Preventive Health Care:
Implications for Older Men in Different Social Classes.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 52(2)
212–227.
RACE
Burchard, Esteban González, et al. 2003. “The Importance of Race and Ethnic Background in Biomedical
Research and Clinical Practice.” The New England Journal of Medicine 348:1170-1175.
Duster, Troy. 2005. “Race and Reification in Science.” Science 307:1050-1051.
Fullwiley, Duana. 2007. “The Molecularization of Race: Institutionalizing Human Difference in
Pharmacogenetics Practice.” Science as Culture 16(1): 1- 30.
Nelson, Alondra. 2008. “Bio science: Genetic Genealogy Testing and the Pursuit of African Ancestry.”
Social Studies of Science, 38(5): 759-78.
Sankar, Pamela. 2003. “MEDLINE Definitions of Race and Ethnicity and Their Application to Genetic
Research.” Nature Genetics 32:119.
Shim, Janet K. 2005. “Constructing 'Race' across the Science-Lay Divide: Racial Formation in the
Epidemiology and Experience of Cardiovascular Disease.” Social Studies of Science 35(3): 405-36.
Tehranifar, Parisa, et al. 2009. “Medical Advances and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Cancer Survival.”
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention 18:2701-2708.
(IM)MORTALITY
Benjamin, Ruha. 2011. “Organized Ambivalence: When Stem Cell Research & Sickle Cell
Disease Converge.” Ethnicity & Health 16(45): 447-­463.
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Kaufman, Sharon R. Janet K. Shim, and Ann J. Russ. 2004. “Revisiting the Biomedicalization of Aging:
Clinical Trends and Ethical Challenges.” The Gerontologist 44(6):731-8
Landecker, Hannah. 2002. “New Times for Biology: Nerve Cultures and the Advent of Cellular Life in
Vitro.” Studies in the History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 33:667-694.
Scott, Christopher T., Jennifer McCormick, & Jason Owen-Smith. 2010. "Federal policy and the use of
pluripotent stem cells." Nature Methods. 11: 866-867.
Scott, Christopher T., et al. 2011. "Democracy Derived: New Trajectories in Pluripotent Stem Cell
Research." Cell. 145(6): 820-826.