Race,  Class,  Gender  and  the  Case  of  Health:  

Revisions  to  Sociological  Perspectives  (SOCL  101)

Jeffrey C. Dixon Department of Sociology & Anthropology

SOCL  101:    Course  Objectives  (2013) • 

After  you  complete  the  course,  you  should  be  able  to:   •  Understand  what  the  sociological  imagination  is  and  be  able  to  apply  it.    

•  Understand  and  distinguish  among  major  sociological  concepts,  theories,  and  methods.  

•  Apply  selected  theories,  concepts,  and  methods,  at  least  on  a  limited  scale.  

•  Be  familiar  with  forms  of  inequality  in  the  US  and  abroad,  as  well  as  their  explanations.  

•  Critically  evaluate  research  evidence  and  form  conclusions.      

SOCL  101:  Organizational  Comparison   Fall 2010 Fall 2013

•  Unit 1: Who does what? Why? o  Sociological

imagination & explanations

o  “Doing sociology” o Culture, networks,

groups •  Unit 2: Who gets what?

Why? o Class, race, and gender

•  Unit 3: Is the world flat?

•  Unit 1: Who does what? Why? How do we study it? o  The sociological

imagination, methods, and ethics

o Critically Thinking about Evidence and Ethics

•  Unit 2: How do we become social? Are two heads better than one?

•  Unit 3: Who gets what? Why? o Class, race, and

gender

Fall  2013:  Selected  New  Readings* Skloot, Rebecca. 2011. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway. Truog, Robert D., Aaron S. Kesselheim, and Steven Joffe. 2012. Paying Patients for Their Tissue: The Legacy of Henrietta Lacks.” Science 337: 37-38. Armstrong, Elizabeth & Laura Hamilton. 2012. “The (mis-)education of Monica and Karen.” Contexts 11 (4): 22-27. Brandt, A.M. 1978. “Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis study.” In Massey, Garth (ed.). Readings for Sociology, 7th edition. New York: W.W. Norton. Conley, T. & L. Ramsey. 2011. “Killing us softly? Investigating Portrayals of Women and Men in Contemporary Magazine Advertisements.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 35 (3): 469-478. Almeling, Rene. 2007. “Selling Genes, Selling Gender…” American Sociological Review [ASR] 72 (3): 319-40 Pager, D et al. 2009. “Discrimination in a Low-Wage Labor Market: A Field Experiment.” ASR 74: 777-99 Williams, D.R. and M. Sternthal. “Understanding Racial-ethnic Disparities in Health: Sociological Contributions.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior [JHSB] 51 S15-27. Marmot, M. The Status Syndrome. New York: Holt. Pp. 1-10, 13-36. Quadagno, Jill. 2010. “Institutions, Interest Groups, and Ideology: An Agenda for the Sociology of Health Care Reform.” JHSB 51(5): 125-136. *Thanks to my colleagues for many of these suggestions. • 

Fall  2013:  Selected  New  Activities,  Etc. •  Role-playing a (social science) experiment •  National Institutes of Health (NIH) Certificate •  Debate position & question (Immortal Life)

o  Should the Lacks’ family be compensated?

•  Evaluating evidence & ethics paper (Skloot) •  Evaluating evidence assign.: Killing Us Softly •  Short clips

o  British Broadcasting Company (BBC). 1997. The Way of All Flesh. Available through rebeccaskloot.com at http://archive.org/details/AdamCurtisTheWayofAllFlesh

o  “What would you do?” (ABC) o  Unnatural Causes

•  Guest speakers o  Academic Services (Malloy), Writing Center (Hayes), Sarah Webster, Counseling

The  Immortal  Life:  Medical  Context o How was Henrietta treated by her doctors and Johns

Hopkins?

o Counterfactual #1: (How) would’ve she been treated differently if she was rich?

o Counterfactual #2: … if she was white? o Counterfactual #3: …if she was a man?

Reflections/Assessment