Men, Women, and Medicine
In a world of contradictions, how then shall we live?
 
Edward H. Thompson, Jr.
Office:  211 Beaven
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Office Hours:  W 10:00-12:00
Holy Cross College
T &Th 9:30-10:30; Th 4:00-5:00
Spring 1998
Phone:  793-3468
ethompson@holycross.edu
Fax:  793-3709
 
 
Course Description & Texts 
Course Requirements 
Course Schedule 
 
 
 

 
OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE

        Although feminism has challenged the gender order of many social institutions, medicine remains quite traditional. Why does the masculine image of the doctor remain so strong when so many women are currently enrolling in medical school?  Why do men exceed women in rates of premature death yet, until their early death, report less illness, less disability, and less psychiatric symptomology?  Why are women's reports of anxiety and stress frequently perceived as triggered by internal forces (either organic or psychosomatic) while men's distress is said to be triggered by their work and social environments?  Why has pharmaceutical research long excluded women from participating as research subjects, yet allowed women to be sold newly approved drugs?  This course will study the relationship between gender and medicine; we will explore the ways gender ideology may actually distort the diagnosis of illness, affects the way patients seek help, and directs the allocations of resources.

        This is the second course in the sequence examining social inequalities.  This course is again designed to help expose the invisible dimensions of social structure that determine not only what we do and say but what we value and who we become.  Because we are surrounded by the architecture of a gendered society, we spend most of our lives responding to the influences of these gender social institutions and organizations.  Throughout the semester the primary objective is to think sociologically (and ethically) about gendered institutions, particularly medicine.  Health and quality medical care are socially constructed by us; who over-benefits, who under-benefits?  Why?
 

  • TEXTS (and COMMON FYP TEXTS**)
    • ADDITIONAL READINGS

            Regularly, there are articles and chapters assigned which are only available in the Reserve Room of the Dinand and Swords libraries.  The authors and articles are designated on the syllabus.

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    COURSE REQUIREMENTS

            Designed to continue to cross through the membrane separating classroom and campus life, and traditional faculty and student worlds, this FYP course includes different opportunities.   Learning & thinking are not bound by place nor separated from fun.  Consequently, this semester we reduce the volume of writing, recruit engage guest lectures, see several films outside of class, and retain the hands-on, active-learning projects.  Responsibilities are to:

    (1)  read assigned material beforehand and attend classes prepared to participate
    (2)  participate in the debates
    (3)  participate in the construction of a Cornell box
    (4)  maintain a sociological collection of short essays (of at least 1 per week )
    (5)  submit a semester research paper
    Participation

            Regular class attendance is expected and necessary.  To get much from the seminar, whether measured by the amount of learning you experience or the grade you eventually earn, requires that you keep up with the assigned readings, attend class prepared, and participate in discussions.  This course will again make or break itself through the way students participate.  The readings selected facilitate discussions.  But if the course is to be appreciated and remembered, the work load rests on all of us as a group.  In class you are encouraged to ask questions, make comments, initiate or join in an ad hoc debate, and bring issues to the attention of the class.  Fifteen percent of the course grade is determined by your participation.

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    Mini-Debates

            Each person will be part of two “debating” teams.  Your 3-4 member team will speak either in favor of or against one policy question.  The team participates as if it is comprised of a set of expert witnesses who have come together to argue for a commonly shared point of view.  Each team member assumes the perspective of the team, speaks to the issue from that value position, and presents one type of expert opinion.  In effect, each member presents her or his argument from the vantage of being "in role" and not (necessarily) your own personal point of view.  You become a specific "other" (e.g., research physician, obstetric nurse) and assume that person's voice.

            To prepare for the debate, your team will need to meet together, define the range of issues and perspectives that could be presented, and plan a strategy to persuasively argue one side of the debate.  Individually and collectively, you will need to locate how this topic is treated by social scientists and other opinion leaders.  You need to consult reference material in the library--journal articles, census data, research monographs--to find the relevant, contemporary information on the topic.  One session after the debate, each person will submit a 2-page critique or evaluation of the debate.  This very brief evaluation should include your opinion of team members' preparation and the quality of their presentation, an assessment of each team's effectiveness in presenting the assigned point of view, the team's persuasiveness in its argument, and a judgment of the overall power and quality of the two team's work.  Do not just summarize the points made.  Evaluate the debate.

    Sociological Essays

            Throughout the semester, you are again expected to keep write regularly.  The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to think critically about how gender and medicine as social structures shape your preferences, beliefs, identity, emotions, understanding & ideas.  The semester’s work requires 10 essays.  Each will demonstrate your use of the sociological perspective, and the collection will reveal your thinking about how gender and medicine are interdependent.  Unlike last semester this is not an ethics collection.  It is a collection of critically reflective 3-4 page "papers" which reveal the quality of your thinking and your ability to apply what you are learning from the course to issues and events outside the classroom.  Only very rarely can someone submit quality work by trying to complete this assignment in the last few weeks of a semester.  The journal is worth 50% of the course grade, rewrites of individual essays are sometimes encouraged but not always, and I will collect your journal every other week.  The collection is graded on the quality of each essay and on the overall quality of a semester's work.  Topics for an essay include (I) critiques and discussion of the monographs assigned in the course, (2) your analysis of newspaper and magazine articles, films, and the like that have bearing on the course topics, (3) original observations of the way social organization of medicine and health care reflect concepts or issues from the readings, and (4) completing a mini-study exercise often recommended during class.

    Research Assignment

            One objective of the course is to get you to exposed to the sociological, medical, and psychiatric literatures which address gender issues.  My hope is to encourage you to utilize sociological concepts and information to analyze one medical or health care issue in the United States.  This assignment is designed to provide you the freedom to select a topic which is of interest to you and, next, to develop a research proposal (or a research project).  For many students interested in the sociology, hands-on research makes the process of studying somatic and psychiatric disorders and health services much more intriguing.  You come away from the research project with a deeper understanding of the topic, appreciating the personal investment, and having learned way beyond the texts.  My expectation is for you to design or develop a very manageable, small-scale research project.  Sometimes a student will collect original data and analyze that data; other times a small group of students will work together on a project; sometimes, the project can be completed by using an existing data set.  “Data” can be photographs, historical documents, interview materials, or observations.  Whatever the method and data, each student submits an original 20-page research paper.  This research assignment is a semester-long project.

            Early in the semester you are expected to identify a research question worth your investment--one which is manageable as a semester project within one of your four courses.  The research that evolves from the question almost always requires analysis of primary data (from your interviews, observation, content analysis, questionnaires) as well as a number of hours engaged in the background library research.  You have the advantage of accessing many references electronically.  Your work culminates in a crafted research paper due no later than April 27.  Research papers have a standard format.  Late papers will be penalized.  The finished paper must adhere to the presentation and citation style outlined by either the American Sociological Association (and modeled in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior) or the American Psychological Association (and detailed in the APA Manual).

            Because this might be one of several papers you write this semester, and one of several due very near the end of classes, I want to affirm that you need to invest yourself in the project, and you need to get involved as early as possible.  To help assure the project begins with enough time to complete it, you ought to consult me outside of class time before February 27.  Development of the research project almost always requires some ongoing advisement and more than the single, preliminary office visit.  To help you get started, set up an appointment to see me.  I would anticipate that you leave the office prepared to draft a brief abstract summarizing the proposed research.   A one-page prospectus must be submitted no later than March 5.  Further guidelines and information will be discussed during the office visit.

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    COURSE OUTLINE
     

  • Perspectives on Privilege & Social Capital
    •  
  • Gender Ideology:  Work, Family, and Health
  •  Jan 22:       Contemporary families

    • Reading:     Hochschild, The second shift, remainder of the book
    Debate:     Should employers require men do more family work?
  • Social Control of Differences
    •  
  • Men, Masculinities, and Fathering, First View
    •  
  • Psychiatric Control of Women and Men
  • Men, Masculinities, and Fathering Revisited

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  • Immigrants and Health
    •  
  • Medical School and the Practice of Medicine
  • Revisiting the FYP Theme
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