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Society, Biology, and Health (Cluster and Certificate)

The primary objective of the Society, Biology, and Health Cluster is to create an interdisciplinary graduate training environment that will foster innovative research on the complex associations among social factors and health over the life course 

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 health-related data 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 foundation of common knowledge with their collaborators.

The Society, Biology, and Health Cluster will likely appeal to students seeking degrees in anthropology, economics, human development and social policy, political science, psychology, or sociology. We expect participating students to complement their disciplinary training with coursework and cluster activities that will encourage them to think critically and creatively about how broader social policies, contexts, and processes influence health in the US, and globally.


Programs and events

The cluster will draw on, and contribute to, ongoing initiatives associated with Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Social Inequalities and Health at the Institute for Policy Research. This includes regular colloquia with prominent outside speakers, informal workshops, and the potential to become involved with a wide range of research projects.

Who should apply?

Doctoral candidates from any field are eligible to apply to join this intellectual “home” outside their department. Past participants have come from the following programs:

  • Anthropology
  • Human Development and Social Policy
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Psychology

How to apply

First-year students are invited to take part in the symposia, work groups, and colloquia offered by all of the clusters to see what may interest them later in their career. At the end of their first year, students will apply to a cluster.

Who to contact

Please contact the program director, listed below, with questions about this program.

The following requirements are in addition to, or further elaborate upon, those requirements outlined in The Graduate School Policy Guide.

Cluster

Cluster fellows are required to take three seminars in the first, second, or third year of graduate study. The goals of the seminars are to introduce key concepts, to review integrative approaches to research on human biology and health in the social sciences, and to promote cross-disciplinary dialogue among cluster fellows and faculty. Full descriptions of the seminars are included below.

Required courses

Integrative Seminar in Society, Biology, and Health (ANTHRO 430-0)

The objective of this course is to survey current efforts to understand the dynamic relationships among society, biology, and health. Many scholars and agencies recognize the need for interdisciplinary approaches that draw on concepts and methods from the social/behavioral sciences as well as the life/biomedical sciences, but successful linkage across levels of analysis has remained an elusive goal. What are the epistemological and methodological challenges to successful integration, particularly in an era of increasing specialization in training and the production of knowledge? What can be learned from prior attempts at integration emerging from distinct disciplinary traditions, including biocultural anthropology, biodemography, psychobiology, social epidemiology, and psychosomatic medicine?

 

Society, Stress and Development: Implications for Intervention (HDSP 415-0)

How do our societal experiences and proximate social worlds “get under the skin and into the brain” to affect human development, and to create and sustain disparities in developmental outcomes? What are the emotional, cognitive, behavioral and biological pathways by which the “biological embedding of experience” occurs? Why do social experiences have such powerful effects on biology and our development, and when during development are such effects most influential and lasting? Which aspects of our social world have the most potent impacts on our health and development?  In this course, we will read and discuss theoretical models and empirical research on the roles that societal and social stress and our emotional, cognitive, behavioral and biological responses to stress play in the emergence of mental health, physical health, and educational disparities. Importantly, however, we will also consider how an understanding of stress processes can help inform policies and interventions designed to improve developmental outcomes and reduce health and academic disparities.

DNA and Society (ANTHRO 490-0)

This seminar will survey current trends in the study of DNA within the social sciences, with a focus on leading edge questions, debates and controversies.  We will read current book length treatments of topics, along with shorter pieces that provide complementary or conflicting perspectives. Readings will cover topics like the uses of ancient DNA to reconstruct the past migrations and relatedness of human populations, the lack of genetic basis to race and race-related health inequality, critical assessment of the field of behavioral genetics and the argument for genetic contributions to educational attainment and social mobility, and emerging debates around the ethical and societal implications of gene editing (CRISPR) technology. We will lay a foundation for engagement with these literatures through critical readings of historical antecedents to these fields along with current criticism and debate.

 

Additional requirements

Quantitative Methods

Cluster fellows will be required to enroll in at least two graduate-level courses in statistical methods of data analysis. This requirement can be fulfilled by a range of currently available graduate courses.

Certificate

A certificate will be awarded for successful completion of three required courses and two elective courses. To request the certificate students must apply to The Graduate School upon completion of these requirements.

Required courses

Integrative Seminar in Society, Biology, and Health (ANTHRO 430-0)

The objective of this course is to survey current efforts to understand the dynamic relationships among society, biology, and health across a wide range of social and biomedical science disciplines.

Society, Stress and Development: Implications for Intervention (HDSP 415-0)

How do our societal experiences and proximate social worlds “get under the skin and into the brain” to affect human development, and to create and sustain disparities in developmental outcomes? This course covers theoretical models and empirical research on the roles that societal and social stress and our emotional, cognitive, behavioral and biological responses to stress play in the emergence of mental health, physical health, and educational disparities, with an emphasis on policies and interventions designed to improve developmental outcomes and reduce health and academic disparities.

DNA and Society (ANTHRO 490-0)

This seminar surveys current trends in the study of DNA within the social sciences, with a focus on leading edge questions, debates and controversies.  Particular attention is given to the lack of genetic basis to race and race-related health inequality, critical assessment of the field of behavioral genetics and the argument for genetic contributions to educational attainment and social mobility, and emerging debates around the ethical and societal implications of gene editing (CRISPR) technology.

Elective courses

The objective of the electives is to encourage students to increase their breadth of knowledge beyond their discipline. Students may petition to add courses to this list with the approval of the SBH governance group.

  • Methods in Human Biology Research (ANTHRO 386-0)
  • Medical Anthropology (ANTHRO 490-0)
  • Human Population Biology (ANTHRO 312-0)
  • Child and Adolescent Sleep—Causes and Consequences (HDSP 451-0)
  • Cultural Neuroscience (PSYCH 470-0)
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  • Behavior, Society, and Health (PUB_HLTH 301-0)
  • Community Engaged Research (PUB_HLTH 320-0)
  • Health Equity (PUB_HLTH 323-0)
  • Population Dynamics (SOCIOL 305-0)
  • Medical Sociology (SOCIOL 355-0)