SOC448

Too often, human bodies are missing from social scientific and lay models of human behavior and thought. Sociologists of the Body seek to correct this oversight by bringing the body back in. This course covers recent theoretical approaches to taking the body series as an object of scientific inquiry. It asks how bodies mediate our experience of the social world, how bodies become entangled in power relations through regulation and governance, how bodies function as signs/symbols, and how bodies can be commodified either wholly or in part. Special attention is paid to how the relationship between society and the human body intersects with issues of gender, race/ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality. Concretely, topics covered may include body image, addiction, stigmas, tattooing, blood donation, and pandemics.