SOCI 353 - Bio-Social Controversy

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as STS 353) Scientific controversies take place not only within scientific communities but may be joined and waged in public arenas as well. This course is about the response to the extension of evolutionary logic to all aspects of contemporary life including education, politics, gender, violence and social behavior in general. It examines “Darwin Wars” fought not only between advocates of evolution and their opponents but selected disagreements among Darwinians themselves. Scientific controversy is treated as a strategic site for analyzing the social bases of various disputes including those between evolution and religious conservatives, sociobiology and cultural anthropology, and debates over sex/gender difference. Provocative perspectives including Darwinian feminism and efforts by transgender biologists to challenge the gender binary will also be considered. The range of conceptual resources deployed to interpret these controversies includes Popperian philosophy of science, the social construction of science, Foucauldian power/knowledge as well as studies of scientific rhetoric. Mr. McAulay.