Society, Biology, and Health

• Cluster Requirements

The primary objective of this cluster is to create an interdisciplinary graduate training environment that will foster innovative research on the complex associations among human biology, society, and health. In the social and behavioral sciences it has long been fashionable to claim that the nature-nurture controversy has been laid to rest, or to point to the fallacy of mind-body dualism. But rarely does current research embody these ideals. 

Why should social scientists care about biology? Humans are biological creatures, embedded in families, communities, and cultures. Biological measures can shed light on the reciprocal links between environments and health by illuminating the specific physiological pathways through which socioeconomic, demographic, and psychosocial factors shape human health. They can help identify individuals inhabiting adverse psychosocial and physical environments, and reveal which aspects of these environments are most toxic. They can identify resiliency factors that buffer individuals from these exposures. Conversely, biological measures may reveal the extent to which aspects of health shape individual life course trajectories and inform selection into various environments. The implementation of objective, “hard science” data such as biomarkers may be particularly effective in mobilizing the attention of policy makers and informing interventions around important social issues. Health is a quintessentially multidimensional phenomenon, and efforts to bridge disciplinary boundaries may cast new light on intractable health problems, and provide new perspectives on complex biopsychosocial dynamics.

Multi-level, multi-method research on society, biology, and health presents tremendous opportunities for enriching our understanding of the determinants and consequences of variation in health, but it also poses significant challenges. In particular, few social scientists possess the background in biological theory and method that is necessary to effectively measure, analyze, and interpret biological processes in community-based research settings. Collaborations with biomedical scientists can help address this gap, but if social scientists want to make the most of these efforts it is incumbent upon them to share a common vocabulary with their collaborators. Furthermore, future leaders of integrative, biosocial research will be conversant in theory and method from both the social and biological sciences. Only with these tools can they effectively, and with credibility, examine the pathways through which social and economic contexts shape human physiology and health.

As research in this area expands and its value becomes more and more apparent, Northwestern and other universities face a growing demand for scholars working at the biosocial interface.

The cluster mechanism is an excellent way to promote interdisciplinary training while respecting disciplinary boundaries and their contributions to the professional identities of our graduate students. A cluster focusing on the dynamic links among society, biology, and health will appeal to graduate students pursuing a PhD in anthropology, economics, human development and social policy, psychology, or sociology.

Training through the cluster will equip these students to design their own data collection efforts at the interface of biology and social science, and to use existing, publicly available datasets. Note that we do not expect these students to attain the same level of biological sophistication achieved by graduate students in the life and biomedical sciences. Rather, we expect them to complement their disciplinary training with a level of biological knowledge that will allow them to think critically and creatively about how to use biological measures to address questions of interest to social scientists and policy makers.

Programming and Events

The cluster will draw on, and contribute to, ongoing initiatives associated with Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Social Disparities and Health at the Institute for Policy Research.  NU faculty affiliated with C2S are helping to define a new generation of scholarship that integrates measurement and analysis of social/contextual factors in relation to biological processes, and we organize regular colloquia with prominent outside speakers, and have a wide range of research projects with which students can become involved.  Each year, C2S sponsors a three-day Summer Biomarker Institute which brings scholars from all over the world to the NU campus for an intensive, hands-on introduction to the integration of biological measurement into community-based, social science research.  The Institute is having a significant impact on the field, and we are drawing on this experience to develop more intensive training opportunities for students at NU as part of this cluster.

C2S involves faculty from anthropology, economics, human development and social policy, psychology, and sociology, and representatives from each of these units are included in the faculty affiliated with the cluster.  We envision that graduate students will maintain a strong disciplinary identity, and find a second home in the cluster that will nurture innovative scholarship that is not constrained by disciplinary boundaries.  Departmental courses, colloquia, and informal exchanges will serve as the foundation for their graduate education, while cluster seminars, colloquia, and monthly meetings will complement this training by engaging students in cross-disciplinary conversations.