2017-2018 Academic Bulletin 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2017-2018 Academic Bulletin [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

HIST 584 - Doctors and Deviants


Credits: 4
An historical study of social deviance in medical thought and practice with a concentration on the United States and Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. A close reading of scholarly writing and primary evidence is emphasized to explore the sources of medicine’s power in modern society and culture. Among the historical problems examined are scientific theories of human behavior, the delineation of the normal and pathological, the intersection of medicine and law, the statistical “discovery” of social illness, eugenics and the concept of degeneration, and the role of class, gender and race in the definition of the deviant individual. These themes are investigated through such problems as suicide, criminality, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, homosexuality and madness.

Prerequisite: HIST 310  or HIST 380 , and permission of instructor.

Distribution Requirements: none.