SOCI 325: Sociology of Science

Agenda

Science, race,
& health

  1. Biomedicine and race
  2. ‘Thrifty gene’
  3. Group discussion

Biomedicine and race

Western European men

  • Historically, biomedical research has focused on white men.
  • The types of questions asked and the kinds of treatments developed show consistent bias.
  • The doing of biomedicine has long been dominated by white men

A photograph of a standard CPR dummy torso, which has a male physiology. Next to it is a neoprene vest featuring two 'breasts'.

Skewed knowledge

  • This leads to more and better knowledge about certain conditions among certain groups
  • E.g. heart disease in men, blood oxygen in white Europeans

Biomedicine and race

“Inclusion and difference” paradigm Epstein 2007

Changes in legislation and norms of research since the late 1980s have altered the role of race and gender for biomedicine

“Inclusion-and-difference” as a paradigm

  • Inclusion:
    Research should explicitly seek to include members of under-represented groups (e.g. women, racialized categories)
  • Difference:
    Research should aim to identify differences between those groups (e.g. incidence rate, mortality rate, treatment effectiveness, …)

The paradigm is championed by practitioners and activist groups seeking to make biomedical research more inclusive

Currently enforced by law or by the policies of funding agencies

Cover of Steven Epstein's book 'Inclusion: The Politics of Difference in Medical Research

Biomedicine and race

Consequences of “Inclusion and difference” Epstein 2007

Sorting hat still from Harry Potter. A boy with round glasses wears a vaguely anthroporphised pointy hat that is way too large for him. He is looking up at the wide brim of the hat.

Categories of inclusion (gender, race, disability, …) have become an a priori assumption of research design.

“Successful” research depends on finding inherent differences between, e.g., indigenous and settler populations.

Within existing power structures (neo-colonialism, capitalism, ableism, patriarchy) the reification of these differences can reinforce oppressive institutions.

A focus on categorical, presumed-biological differences can mask underlying social issues (poverty, access to healthcare) that cause health differences.

In short, the paradigm of inclusion and difference risks naturalizing problems that are better understood as social.

The
‘thrifty gene’

The thrifty gene

Thrifty gene hypothesis

  • Aims to explain prevalence of some forms of diabetes among certain Indigenous communities
  • Proposes that European colonial expansion caused changes to Indigenous diets
  • Presumes that Indigenous populations are genetically adapted to “feast-and-famine”
  • Switch to “feast-only” diets predisposes Indigenous peoples to diabetes and obesity

A photograph of a red tray with two long hotdogs, covered in ketchup and yellow mustard, with tiny American Flags stuck into them.

The thrifty gene

Jennifer Poudrier (2007)

Existing research on ‘thrifty gene’ hypothesis relies on and reinforces “problematic and intersecting binaries” such as “civilized/primitive, Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal and science/culture.” (p. 239)

Poudrier seeks to “de-naturalize” and decolonize the theory.

This means, among other things, that any discussion of the intersection of race, health, and genetics for Indigenous peoples must include voices and perspectives of those people at a foundational level.

She uses this perspective to confront two implicit assumptions of a ‘thrifty gene’ analysis of the Indigenous population of the Oji-Cree of Sandy Lake, Ontario:

  1. genetic homogeneity, and
  2. validity of the the comparative groups.

The thrify gene

Decolonizing Methodologies (Linda Tuhiwai Smith, 1999)

Cover of Linda Tuhiwai Smith's book 'Decolonizing Methologies: research and Indigenous Peoples' (second edition)

Western scientific research is “inextricably linked to European imperialism and colonialism.” (p. 30)

Scientific research on and about colonized peoples is inherently exploitative.

Current issues of health, inequality, poverty, etc. are part of the broad historical narrative.

Indigenous peoples have “counter stories” that challenge categories and paradigms of Western science.

Does not seek to fully reject Western science, but to turn it into one part of a larger discourse.

Next class

Standardization, bodies,
and society

  • Herzig (1999)
    Removing Roots: “North American Hiroshima Maidens” and the X Ray
  • Woods and Watson (2004) — optional
    In Pursuit of Standardization: The British Ministry of Health’s Model 8F Wheelchair, 1948-1962

Content warning
The Herzig reading includes descriptions
of bodily harm and illness.

Image credit

A photograph of a standard CPR dummy torso, which has a male physiology. Next to it is a neoprene vest featuring two 'breasts'.

Photo by Joan Creative via NPR

News clipping with headline 'A medical student couldn’t find how symptoms look on darker skin. He decided to publish a book about it.' Includes a photo of a young Black man with a stethascope around his neck smiling at the camera in a research hospital setting.

Screenshot from the Wall Street Journal

Sorting hat still from Harry Potter. A boy with round glasses wears a vaguely anthroporphised pointy hat that is way too large for him. He is looking up at the wide brim of the hat.

Screenshot from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001)

A photograph of a red tray with two long hotdogs, covered in ketchup and yellow mustard, with tiny American Flags stuck into them.

Photo by Jay Wennington on Unsplash

e.g. until recently, heart disease was much better understood for men than women

- pention use of 'paradigm' and link to Kuhn - link to Collins' discussion of negotiating the 'relevant criteria' for an experiment to have worked.

Paradox of studying vs reifying race - link to Adams 'isolating ingredients'; Suggest that maybe the Western medical paradigm in general has a hard time dealing with complex causal factors like race, gender, ethnicity, disability, etc. - link to Collins' discussion of negotiating the 'relevant criteria' for an experiment to have worked.

talk about "denaturalize" both criticisms focus on the lack of indigenous voices

Note on terminology content warning for bodiily harm