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Fall 2020

Northeastern University

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

SOCL 7287

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN HEALTH

Phil Brown, University Distinguished Professor Telephone 373-7407 (not regularly

of Sociology and Health Sciences checked)

p.brown@northeastern.edu

Tuesday 1:35-4:55 Course meets online

Office Hours: By appointment

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Course Description This graduate seminar centers on health social movements (HSMs), but also provides some exploration in general social movement theory, as well as covering some core medical sociology concerns, including health inequalities, personal experience of illness, medicalization, and lay-professional disputes over disease identification, causation, prevention, and treatment. We are especially focused on anti-racist approaches to health status and health care and the many social structures that affect it.

Course Structure

Since it is likely that students will not have taken a course in social movements, this seminar will provide some background on general social movement theory. That will be done by including some readings on general social movements in the first 5 weeks of the seminar, and it is possible that occasional other articles will be added later on. We will not, however, be primarily focused on showing how a specific social movement theory can explain a particular HSM; indeed, we will be examining how elements of multiple theories can be applied to any given HSM.

Each meeting will begin with listening to and discussing a song about social movements. There will also be visits to journal shelves and websites, about which students will make brief presentations.

Each meeting will include lecture material by me and presentations on the readings by one or two students. The student presentations will involve analysis and interpretation of required readings; you can feel free to bring in additional readings as well.

A paper or a formal proposal will be due the last week of the seminar, on a topic of the student's choice, selected in consultation with me. I will provide a list of possible topics, although you are not bound to choose one of them. Alternatively, Sociology doctoral students can write a field statement. Students will make final presentations on the last day of class.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Identify and differentiate the main theoretical perspectives that explain the rise and evolution of social movements.

2. Identify linkages between health social movements and other institutions, including governing and policymaking bodies, professional associations, health institutions, , and other social movements.

3. Explain how social movements strategically use science and how they challenge modes of scientific knowledge production.

4. Conduct an in-depth examination of specific US-based health social movements, including goals, strategies, tactics, and organization.

Course Requirements and Evaluation

1. Preparation and Participation (10% of your grade). This class is primarily based on discussion. Everyone has a responsibility to contribute to discussion on a weekly basis, and to listen respectfully in order to learn from one another. You are therefore expected to do all of the required readings, and to reflect thoughtfully on them in preparation for your active participation in class.

2. Seminar Discussion Leader (20% of your grade). You will make a presentation with a short (10-15 minute) overview of the required readings for the week. You should not summarize the readings, but instead compare/contrast the main points. This may include a review of the overall theory or a close review of the concepts the authors use in their analysis. You might identify contradictions, puzzles, or problems in the readings, and if so, pull those out for dissection and scrutiny. You can use PowerPoint to organize your presentation, but it is not required. At a minimum, though, you should provide a handout (emailed to the class ahead of time) with research questions, key arguments, key concepts, theoretical frameworks, and key findings.

3. Journal Report (10% of your grade). Details to come, but once during the semester, you will give a 10-15-minute presentation to familiarize the class with scholarly journals that publish research on general social movements or health social movements.

4. Website presentation (10% of your grade). Details to come, but once during the semester, you will give a 10-15-minute presentation to familiarize the class with a relevant website that covers various aspects of health social movements.

5. Final Project: Research Paper or Research Proposal or Field Statement (Sociology doctoral students) (50% of the total grade). You have three possible options:

o Traditional Research Paper.

o Field Statement. Those of you who are doctoral candidates in sociology have the option of using this class to develop a section of a field statement in sociology of health. The purpose of the field statement is to prepare you to teach courses in the field, to write a research proposal, and to embark on empirical research with a strong grounding in theory and substance. More details and advice about field statement preparation can be found on the department website at:

uploads/sites/19/2018/05/Field-Stment-Diss-Prop-Guidelines.pdf.

o Research Proposal. Students who are planning to embark on a dissertation project studying a health social movement are welcome to use this course as a vehicle to prepare their dissertation proposal. If you are not sure of your dissertation topic, you can prepare a proposal for another topic, as a learning exercise. Students should follow the format and guidelines for the National Science Foundation’s Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (available at:

for Sociology and for Science and Technology Studies; other NSF programs may be relevant as well) or the National Institute of Health’s Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31; instructions available at:

. It is also possible that students can submit a regular research proposal with a faculty member as PI, and there are a variety of relevant programs in NSF and NIH. Students planning a submission to a different agency or foundation (other than NSF or NIH) may follow that format, with advance permission from me.

The final project is to be completed in three installments:

-Prospectus (due October 6). A 2-page paper stating which option you are choosing for this course. If you are proposing a field statement, you should explain how the section you write for this class would fit into the field statement as a whole. If you are choosing the research paper or proposal, you should identify a topic, propose some tentative research questions, and outline your data collection and analytic strategy. Whichever option you choose, you should also include a short bibliography of at least 15 items (scholarly books and peer reviewed journal articles) that will form the basis of your literature review.

-Final Presentation (due December 8) You should prepare a Powerpoint presentation you might deliver at a scientific conference or to brief an audience of policymakers.

-Final paper (due December 13 after revision based on December 8 discussion and critique)

Expectations

1. This is a collegial (college plus colleagues) learning space. Be on time. Be respectful. Turn off and put away your cell phones. Don’t do other things on the computer while on the Zoom class.

2. Assignments and late work. Assignments handed in late without prior permission from me

will be marked down a half grade for each day they are late. Assignments that are more than four days late will not be graded.

3. Grammar, spelling, and mechanics. All assignments should be typed, double-spaced, with a traditional 11- or 12-point black font, and with one-inch margins and page numbers. Please make sure your name appears on the first page of the paper. Please proofread all of your written assignments carefully. Papers with frequent misspellings and grammatical errors will be marked down by a half grade.

4. Writing. Your success in this course will depend heavily on the quality of your written assignments. Although grammar and mechanics are important, it is even more important that you strive to develop a clear and convincing argument and support that argument with compelling evidence and examples. Do make use of the Writing Center to improve your writing and analytical skills. For best results, make an appointment at the Writing Center well in advance of the due date of the assignment.

Academic Honesty

I expect all students in this course to be familiar with the University’s policies on academic honesty and integrity. For more information about the University’s policies, please see

. Lack of familiarity with the

policies will not excuse failure to comply with them. Cheating or plagiarism will result in an

automatic failing grade for that assignment, and written reports to the dean of your school or

college and to Office of Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution (OSCCR). They may (at their

discretion) take further disciplinary action.

All work you hand in during the course must reflect your own original ideas and

independent analyses, and you should appropriately cite any supporting data or reference

materials. You should follow the American Sociological Review’s rules for formatting citations and bibliographies. The Library has a webpage with helpful links to a variety of citation guides: . The Library also offers workshops that will teach you how to use any of a number of software programs (such as EndNote, Mendeley, or Zotero) to manage your citations and create bibliographies automatically.

Accommodations

Please let me know right away if you need any special accommodations in order to enable you to participate fully. Northeastern provides a number of academic resources to support students. For more information on any of these resources, visit academic-resources/.

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REQUIRED READING:

Required reading consists of the book to be purchased, and articles and chapters that are all posted on Canvas.

Books available at Bookstore:

Alondra Nelson Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination (University of Minnesota Press)

Jennifer Nelson More Than Medicine: A History of the Feminist Women's Health Movement (NYU Press)

Patricia Zavella, The Movement for Reproductive Justice: Empowering Women of Color Through Social Activism (NYU Press)

Sara Wylie Fractivism: Corporate Bodies and Chemical Bonds (Duke University Press)

Sept. 15 1) Introduction

(Read prior to first class meeting)

Kacey Y. Eichelberger, Kemi Doll, Geraldine E. Ekpo, and Matthew L. Zerden, “Black Lives Matter: Claiming a Space for Evidence-Based Outrage in Obstetrics and Gynecology” American Journal of Public Health 2016, Vol. 106, No. 10: 1771-1772.

Phil Brown, Steve Zavestoski, Sabrina McCormick, Brian Mayer, Rachel Morello-Frosch, and Rebecca Gasior, “Embodied Health Movements: Uncharted Territory in Social Movement Research” Sociology of Health and Illness 2004 26:1-31

Sept. 22 2) History and Theory of Health Social Movements

General social movements

David Meyer, “Protest and Political Opportunities” Annual Review of Sociology 2004

Bob Edwards and Melinda Kane “Resource Mobilization and Social and

Political Movements” in Hein-Anton van der Heijdenk, Ed. Handbook of Political Citizenship and Social Movements 2014

David A. Snow, Robert D. Benford, Holly J. McCammon, Lyndi Hewitt, and Scott Fitzgerald “The Emergence, Development, and Future of the Framing Perspective: 25+ Years Since ‘Frame Alignment’”  Mobilization Vol. 19 #1 2014

Health social movements

“Preface” (pp. vi-viii) and “Introduction” (pp. 3-28) in Barbara Ehrenreich and John Ehrenreich, The American Health Empire

Beatrix Hoffman, “Health Care Reform and Social Movements in the United States” American Journal of Public Health. 2003; 93: 75-85

Theodore Brown and Elizabeth Fee, “Social Movements in Health” Annual Review of Public Health 2014. 35:385–98

{websites: Public Health and Social Justice ;

Social Medicine }

[journal: Social Movement Studies]

Sept. 29 3) Defining and Characterizing HSMs; COVID Activism

General social movements

Francesca Polletta and James M. Jasper, “Collective Identity and Social Movements” Annual Review of Sociology 2001

Health social movements

Steven Epstein, “Patient Groups and Health Movements” In Edward Hackett, Olga Amsterdamska, Michael Lynch, and Judy Wajcman, eds. The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies

Lee, Sandra Soo-Jin, Michael Bentz, and Emily Vasquez. 2020. “COVID-19 and America’s Racial Violence Are Inextricable” Health Affairs June 26, 2020.

Chappell, Bill. 2020. “Protesting Racism Versus Risking COVID-19.” NPR June 1, 2020.

Martha Powers, Grace Poudrier, Alissa Cordner, Jennifer Ohayon, Phil Brown, Cole Alder, and Marina Atlas “Eco-Pandemic Injustice and COVID-19: Susceptibilities and Opportunities Related to Environmental Health” (under review)

Miguel Martínez “Mutating mobilisations during the pandemic crisis in Spain” Interface Volume 12 (1): 15-21 (July 2020).

{websites: COVID-19 Ethics: Health, Inequality, and Justice-Columbia University Medical Center - ; Social Science Research Council -The Coronavirus Syllabus }

[journal: Mobilization]

Oct. 6 4) The Intersection of Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Health Organizing

General Social Movements

Jeff Goodwin, James Jasper, and Francesca Polletta, “Why Emotions Matter” in Jeff Goodwin, James Jasper, and Francesca Polletta, eds. Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements

Health Social Movements

J. Nwando Olayiwola, Joshua J. Joseph, Autumn R. Glover, Harold L. Paz, Darrell M. Gray, II, "Making Anti-Racism A Core Value In Academic Medicine" Health Affairs August 25, 2020.

Merlin Chowkwanyun, “The New Left and Public Health: The Health Policy Advisory Center, Community Organizing, and the Big Business of Health, 1967–1975” American Journal of Public Health 2011 101: 238–249.

The following in Anne-Emanuelle Birn and Theodore M. Brown, eds., Comrades in Health: U.S. Health Internationalists, Abroad and at Home:

Anne-Emanuelle Birn and Theodore M. Brown, “The Making of Health Internationalists”

Walter J. Lear, “American Medical Support for Spanish Democracy,1936–1938”

H. Jack Geiger “Contesting Racism and Innovating Community Health Centers Approaches on Two Continents”

Paula Braveman, “Find the Best People and Support Them”

Bernard Lown, “Medical Internationalism and the ‘Last Epidemic’”

{website: Health-PAC Archives }

[journal: American Journal of Public Health]

Guest speaker: Merlin Chowkwanyun

***Final project topic selection due

Oct. 13 5) Medical Activism

General social movements

Kelly Moore, “Powered by the People: Scientific Authority in Participatory Science” Pp. 299-323 in Scott Frickel and Kelly Moore, eds. The New Political Sociology of Science: Institutions, Networks, and Power

Health Social Movements

Alondra Nelson, Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination

Heather M. Zoller (2016): Health Activism Targeting Corporations:A Critical Health Communication Perspective, Health Communication online May 24, 2016

from the American Journal of Public Health special section October 2016:

Mary Bassett, “Beyond Berets: The Black Panthers as Health Activists”

Theodore Brown, “Working with the Panthers to Transform Health Care for Poor Black Communities”

Amy Garvey, “Reclaiming the White Coat for Black Lives”

Quentin Young (with Steve Fiffer) “Quentin Young on the Black Panther Party Free Clinic in Chicago”

{website Sickle-Cell Disease Association }

[journal: Health and Human Rights Journal ]

Guest speaker: Alondra Nelson 3:45-4:15

Oct. 20 6) Occupational Safety and Health Movement

Laura Senier, Brian Mayer, Phil Brown, and Rachel Morello-Frosch, “School Custodians and Green Cleaners: New Approaches to Labor-Environmental Coalitions,” Organization and Environment, 2007, 20:304-324.

Frederica Perera, “Science as an Early Driver of Policy: Child Labor Reform in the Early Progressive Era, 1870–1900” American Journal of Public Health. 2014;104:1862–1871.

David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz. “The Early Movement for Occupational Safety and Health, 1900-1917” In Judith Walzer Leavitt and Ronald L. Numbers, eds. Sickness and Health in America: Readings in the History of Medicine and Public Health

Beth Malinowski, Meredith Minkler, and Laura Stock, “Labor Unions: A Public Health Institution” American Journal of Public Health 2015;105:261–271

National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, “Preventable Deaths 2016” and “2020 Workers Memorial Week Toolkit”

{website: MassCOSH and National COSH Network }

[journal: New Solutions]

Oct. 27 7) Women’s Health Movement

Jennifer Nelson More Than Medicine: A History of the Feminist Women's Health Movement

{website: Our Bodies Ourselves }

[journal: Women’s Health Issues]

Nov. 3 8) Reproductive Justice

Patricia Zavella, The Movement for Reproductive Justice: Empowering Women of Color Through Social Activism

Hoover, Elizabeth et al. 2012. “Indigenous Peoples of North America: Environmental Exposures and Reproductive Justice.” Environmental Health Perspectives 120(12):1645–49

{website: March of Dimes }

[journal: Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change – annual series]

Guest speaker: Elizabeth Hoover

Nov. 10 9) Disease-based Movements

Melinda Goldner, “Dynamic Interplay Between Western Medicine and CAM” In Phil Brown and Stephen Zavestoski, eds., Social Movements in Health

Renee Beard, “Emergent Voices: Illness Experience, Social Structure, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Movement” In Phil Brown and Stephen Zavestoski, eds., Social Movements in Health

Volona Rabeharisoa, “The Struggle Against Neuromuscular Diseases in France and the Emergence of the ‘Partnership Model” of Patient Organization.” Social Science & Medicine 2003 57:2127-2136

Steven Epstein, "The Construction of Lay Expertise: AIDS Activism and the Forging of Credibility in the Reform of Clinical Trials," Science, Technology, & Human Values 1995 20: 408-437.

Rachel Kahn Best “Disease Politics and Medical Research Funding: Three Ways Advocacy Shapes Policy” American Sociological Review 2012 77: 780

Maren Klawiter, “Racing for the Cure, Walking Women, and Toxic Touring: Mapping Cultures of Action within the Bay Area Terrain of Breast Cancer” Social Problems 1999 46:104-126

Maren Klawiter, “Breast Cancer in Two Regimes: The Impact of Social Movements on Illness Experience” in Phil Brown and Stephen Zavestoski, eds., Social Movements in Health

Emily Kolker, “Reaching for Resources and Recognition: The Breast Cancer Movement” in Phil Brown and Stephen Zavestoski, eds., Social Movements in Health

{website: Campus-Community Partnerships for Health ccph.

[journal: Progress in Community Health Partnerships]

Nov. 17 10) Mental Patients Rights Movement and Antipsychiatry

Judi Chamberlin, ”Inside the Mental Patients Association” from On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System Hawthorne Books. 1978.

Nancy Tomes, “The Patient As A Policy Factor: A Historical Case Study Of The Consumer/Survivor Movement In Mental Health” Health Affairs 2006, 25: 720-729

Carolina S. Chassot and Felismina Mendes, “The experience of mental distress and recovery among people involved with the service user/survivor movement” Health 2015, 19:372-388

E. Gabriella Coleman, “The Politics of Rationality: Psychiatric Survivors’ Challenge to Psychiatry” Pp. 341-363 in Beatriz da Costa and Kavita Philip, eds., Tactical Biopolitics: Art, Activism, and Technoscience

Nick Crossley, “R.D. Laing and the British Anti-Psychiatry Movement: A Socio-Historical Analysis.” Social Science & Medicine 1998 47:877-889

Phil Brown “From the Radical Psychology Movement to STS: A Journey from the 1960s in Multiple Parts” Science as Culture. In press

{websites: National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy

Mad in America: Science, Psychiatry, and Community }

[journal: Asylum: International Magazine for Democratic Psychiatry ]

Nov. 24 11) Environmental Health and Justice Movements

Sara Wylie Fractivism: Corporate Bodies and Chemical Bonds

{website: Collaborative on Health and the Environment }

[journal: Environmental Justice]

Dec. 1 12) Health Access Movements and Movements to Change the Health System and Promote Social Medicine

Jack Geiger “The First Community Health Center in Mississippi: Communities Empowering Themselves” American Journal of Public Health October 2016

Steven Epstein, “The Strength of Diverse Ties: Multiple Hybridity in the Politics of Inclusion and Difference in us Biomedical Research”. In Jane Banaszak-Holl, Sandra Levitsky, and Mayer Zald (eds.) Social Movements and the Transformation of American Health Care Oxford University Press, 2010:

Jill Quadagno, “Interest Group Influence on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010: Winners and Losers in the Health Care Reform Debate.”  Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 2011 36 (3): 449-454.

Nancy Krieger, “Public Health, Embodied History, and Social Justice: Looking Forward” International Journal of Health Services 2015, 45(4): 587–600.

Anthony Moulton “Toward a National Climate Change Health Coalition” American Journal of Public Health October 2016, Vol. 106, No. 10: 1763-1764

Daniel Fox and Colleen Grogan, “Population Health During the Obama Administration: An Ambitious Strategy with an Uncertain Future” American Journal of Public Health January 2017, Vol 107, No. 1:32-34.

John McDonough, “A Consequential Eight Years for Health Care and Public Health” American Journal of Public Health January 2017, Vol 107, No. 1:24-25.

Diana Zuckerman, “A Major Shortcoming in the Public Health Legacy of the Obama Administration” American Journal of Public Health January 2017, Vol 107, No. 1:28-29

Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein, “The Obama Years: Tepid Palliation for America’s Health Scourges” American Journal of Public Health January 2017, Vol 107, No. 1:22-24

Susan Wood, “A Women’s Health Legacy of the Obama Administration” American Journal of Public Health January 2017, Vol 107, No. 1:27-28

Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein, “Single-Payer Reform—'Medicare for All’” JAMA May 31, 2019

[Additional articles may be added based on future of Affordable Care Act and other health policy subsequent to election]

{websites: Physicians for Social Responsibility ; Physicians for a National Health Plan }

[journals: Interface and Contention]

Dec. 8 13) Final Presentations

***Final paper due Monday, Dec. 14, following discussion and critique in class

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