Course Syllabus
Below is a syllabus template that includes WSU's required syllabus elements. Please complete all items highlighted in yellow.
Social Autopsies: How Society Kills Us
SOC 570
Semester and Year [tbd]
Number of Credit Hours 3
Prerequisites None
Course Details
Day and Time: [tbd]
Meeting Location: [tbd]
Instructor Contact Information
Instructor Name: Justin Denney
Instructor Contact Information: Wilson-Short 239, 5-7516, justin.denney@wsu.edu
Instructor Office Hours: [click here for best practices] [tbd]
TA Name: [tbd]
TA Contact Information: [office location, phone, email]: [tbd]
TA Office Hours: [click here for best practices] [tbd]
Course Description
In many ways this course is designed to be a social autopsy. An autopsy, in the biomedical sense, is an examination of a body after death with the intent of identifying and confirming pathologies leading to the body’s expiration. This course explores our health and mortality, how long we live, as a social process. Though we often reflect on the biological, physiological, and genetic conditions that play parts in the causes of death and length of our lives, we will examine evidence that suggests social conditions shape health and mortality prospects for all of us. Did you know that otherwise healthy widowers have significant increased risks of death especially in the first 12 months following the death of a spouse? Or that, on average, the most affluent Americans live 5 years longer than the most deprived? We will seek to better understand issues such as these over the course of the semester.
Recognizing mortality as a social process means investigating the collective and institutional factors that impact individual’s prospects. We will read and critically engage with original works that describe the formation of factors such as social support, socioeconomic status, and discrimination and reveal their relationships with health outcomes and death from a variety of causes. Broadly construed, the goal of this course is to better understand our own longevity in the context of where we live, how we live, and who we live with and to discuss how that translates into policy considerations for individuals across the social spectrum.
Course Materials
Required Books (six total)
Carr, Deborah. 2014. Worried Sick: How Stress Hurts Us and How to Bounce Back. New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN: 9780813565378
Dawes, Daniel E. 2020. The Political Determinants of Health. Baltimore, MD: Johns
Hopkins University Press. ISBN: 9781421437897
Holmes, Seth M. 2013. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United
States. Berkeley, CA: The University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520275133
Hummer, Robert A. and Erin R. Hamilton. 2019. Population Health in America.
Berkeley, CA: The University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520291577
Klinenberg, Eric. 2015. Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, 2nd edition.
Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 9780226276182
Marmot, Michael. 2005. The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health
and Longevity. New York: Macmillan. ISBN: 9780805078541
|
Course Learning Outcomes (students will be able to:) |
Activities Supporting the Learning Outcomes | Assessment of the Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
| Critical and creative thinking | Readings, Discussion reflections and responses, in class lecture and discussion | Weekly attendance and participation and final presentation and paper |
| Information literacy | Readings, Discussion reflections and responses, in class lecture and discussion | Weekly attendance and participation and final presentation and paper |
| Effective communication |
Serving as weekly seminar discussion leader; final presentation and paper |
Discussion board; final presentation and paper |
| Dates | Lesson Topic | Assignment | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Week 1 |
Introduction: How does society kill us? |
Readings:
Additional Readings etc.: Case and Deaton 2015 (C) Watch: “Episode 1: In Sickness and in Wealth” from the documentary UnNatural Causes **If you are off campus, you must be logged in to WSU’s VPN. Go to https://searchit.libraries.wsu.edu/permalink/f/1j6uprt/CP71229746910001451 and click on the access option “WSU Kanopy”. That will take you to a webpage for the whole documentary and you can choose the episode noted above. |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 2 [dates] |
Theorizing about health and disease: How do social factors “get under the skin”? |
Readings:
Additional Readings: Lutfey & Freese 2005 (C)
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on January 17 |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 3 [dates] |
Inequality, the Root of All Evil |
Readings:
Additional Readings: Pampel et al. 2010 (C) NY Times – Janny Scott (C)
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on January 24 |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 4 [dates] |
Inequality continued |
Readings:
Additional Readings: Cockerham 2000 (C) Denney et al. 2017 (C)
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on January 31 |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 5 [dates] |
A Social Autopsy, why where you live can make you sick |
Readings:
Additional Readings: Sampson et al 2002 (C) Sharkey & Faber 2014 (C) Denney et al. 2020 (C)
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on February 7 Check out the data and maps you can create at the website below to help stimulate your discussion post: http://www.healthdata.org/data-visualization/us-health-map |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 6 [dates] |
Neighborhoods, Social Capital, and Health |
Readings:
Additional Readings : Denney et al. 2018 (C) Duneier’s critique of Heat Wave (C) Klinenberg’s response (C)
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on February 14 |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 7 [dates] |
Structural Determinants – Gender |
Readings:
Additional Readings: Rogers et al. 2010 (C) Montez et al. 2015 (C) Gorman et al. 2015 (C)
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on February 21 **Paper proposal due to Canvas by 5pm on February 21** |
Attendance and participation; Final paper assignment |
| Week 8 [dates] |
Structural Determinants – Race/Ethnicity and Discrimination |
Readings:
Additional Resources: Listen to: Radiolab podcast, “Invisible Allies” episode https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/invisible-allies
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on February 28 |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 9 [dates] |
March 7 – Race continued |
Readings:
Additional Readings: Ridgeway & Denney 2023 (C) Tuthill et al. 2020 (C)
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on March 6 |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 10 [dates] |
Family, Networks, and Health |
Readings:
Additional Readings: NY Times Bornstein 2018 (C) Carr & Springer 2010 (C) Umberson & Montez 2010 (C) Denney et al. 2013 (C)
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on March 20 |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 11 [dates] |
Social Psychology and Health |
Readings:
Additional Readings: Thoits 2010 (C) Stress in America (C)
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on March 27 |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 12 [dates] |
Political Determinants |
Readings:
Additional Readings: Montez et al. 2020 (C)
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on April 3 |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 13 [dates] |
Political Determinants contd. |
Readings:
Assignments: Reflection and response by 5pm on April 10 |
Attendance and participation |
| Week 14 [dates] |
Final Presentations |
Assignments: Final Presentation (if you are scheduled) Your constructive criticism of your assigned presentation due April 19 (if you are not presenting) |
Final presentation and paper project |
| Week 15 [dates] |
Final Presentations and Wrap up |
Assignments: Final Presentation (if you are scheduled) Your constructive criticism of your assigned presentation due April 19 (if you are not presenting) |
Final presentation and paper project |
Expectations for Student Effort
For each hour of lecture equivalent, students should expect to have a minimum of two hours of work outside of class. This is a graduate seminar, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. Please come see me at any time if you feel you are not putting forth the kind of effort that would maximize your comprehension and growth.
Course Evaluation
This course is designed as a graduate seminar and it will involve considerable participation from you. Therefore attendance and participation is an essential part of the flow of the course and of your digestion of the material. You are expected to come to class prepared and having read all course materials for that day. One to two students per class will be responsible for presenting on portions of the readings that will prompt our discussions. When it is your turn to present you will post a one to three page summary/critique of the reading (following the example provided to you in class) to the course site by 5pm on Wednesday. If you are not presenting material for the week you will be responsible for a ‘reflection question’ based on any of that week’s readings. You will pose the question and then include an approximate 1 paragraph reflection. I encourage you to post links to media items that are relevant to the readings for that week. Your reflection questions will be posted to the Canvas site by 5pm on Wednesday. In addition to posting your question you will respond to at least one of your classmate’s discussion items each week. The last two weeks of the class are reserved for professional presentations of final projects. In the week you are not presenting you will provide a one-page constructive criticism for an assigned peer. These will be due to me and your classmate by 5pm on Friday following the presentation. These weekly attendance and participation assignments will constitute a portion of your attendance and participation grade, which will account for 30% of your final grade. If you are not present for class you will receive a 0 for that week. If you are going to be absent more than twice throughout the semester please schedule a meeting with me to discuss options.
You will post your summary/critiques and reflection questions under the ‘Discussions’ portion of the Canvas site each week. You will also use the Discussion section to respond to at least one of the posts from your classmates. This is a great place to generate ideas for the week and for your final projects.
The other course requirements are centered on the completion of either 1) an academic paper on a health or mortality disparity of your choice or 2) a final report prepared in format for a state (i.e. Washington Department of Health) or national (i.e. Centers for Disease Control) agency that compiles data and provides a detailed analysis and comparison of a health or mortality outcome for different groups or different geographic areas (i.e. counties) in the state. I will provide some sources of data that you are free to use or you can use your own data for the paper or report. The paper could also be a deep literature review on a health or mortality topic of your choosing. The three components of this project will encompass the remainder of your course grade, 70%. The paper or report (~ 20 pages in length including title and reference pages) representing the culmination of this project represents 35% of your final course grade. In addition to the paper/report you will prepare and give a 20 to 30 minute professional presentation of your project to the class. The presentation accounts for 25% of your final course grade. Finally, to help keep you on track, you will complete a mid-term proposal (2 pages single-spaced) for your project. This gives you an opportunity to tell me what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. I will provide feedback on your proposal to assist you in the completion of your project. The proposal is required and constitutes 10% of your final grade. The proposal should be uploaded to our course site by 5pm on February 21st.
Grading [add more lines if necessary]
| Type of Assignment (tests, papers, etc) | Percent of Overall Grade | |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance and participation | 100 | 30 |
| Midterm proposal | 100 | 10 |
| Professional presentation | 100 | 25 |
| Final paper | 100 | 35 |
| Grade | Percent | Grade | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| A |
93-100 |
C | 74-76 |
| A- | 90-92 | C- | 70-73 |
| B+ | 88-89 | D+ | 67-69 |
| B | 84-87 | D | 60-66 |
| B- | 80-83 | F | 59 and below |
| C+ | 77-79 |
All students, including those taking the course on a Pass/Fail basis, must complete all required work to receive a passing grade. I round at the first decimal point, so an 89.5 is equal to a 90 and an 89.4 is equal to an 89.
Attendance and Make-Up Policy
This course is designed as a graduate seminar and it will involve considerable participation from you. Students should make all reasonable efforts to attend all class meetings. However, in the event a student is unable to attend a class, it is the responsibility of the student to inform the instructor as soon as possible and explain the reason for the absence. You are allowed to miss two classes due to illness and emergencies with no impact on your final grade. If you are going to miss more than two classes it may result in a reduction of grade so please schedule an appointment to talk with me immediately should you foresee more than two absences throughout the semester.
Academic Integrity Statement
You are responsible for reading WSU's Academic Integrity Policy, which is based on Washington State law. If you cheat in your work in this class you will:
-Fail the course
-Be reported to the Center for Community Standards
-Have the right to appeal my decision
-Not be able to drop the course of withdraw from the course until the appeals process is finished
If you have any questions about what you can and cannot do in this course, ask me.
If you want to ask for a change in my decision about academic integrity, use the form at the Center for Community Standards website. You must submit this request within 21 calendar days of the decision.