SYLLABI

SCTS 615: The Biopolitics of Health

This course will investigate conceptualizations of life and death, power and subjectivity, individual and population through scholarly work on ‘biopolitics’ A core social science framework for examining how contemporary life is defined and governed, biopolitics has shaped opportunities for...Read more

SCTS 101: Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society

Participants in this course will explore how science and technology studies (STS) scholars analyze the social dimensions of technology and science. This course is an introduction to how political, social, and economic factors shape the development of scientific concepts, medical practices, and...Read more

SCTS 780: SPECIAL TOPICS: IDENTITY AND INTERSECTIONALITY LAB

This is a lab course, designed to give students a quarter-long opportunity to engage in sustained, collaborative research on a problem in Science, Technology and Society. For this iteration of the Identity and Intersectionality Lab, we will focus on neurodiversity and intersectionality. We...Read more

SCTS 504: Science, Technology & Society Theories

In this course we will survey key theories, concepts, and intellectual controversies that have animated the field of Science and Technology Studies over the last 35 years. Beginning with a brief introduction to early scholarship and the field’s historic landmarks, we will quickly move on to lab...Read more

SCTS 502: RESEARCH METHODS

This seminar will provide an in-depth exploration of many of the research methods used by social scientists.  Participants will learn how to define a meaningful research question and to identify which methods will best answer that question. They will also learn how to design interview guides and...Read more

SCTS 620: Medicine, Technology and Science

This seminar focuses on the social dimensions of medicine, health and illness. In this seminar, we will explore how definitions and experiences of health and illness are shaped by technology use, cultural contexts, institutional practices, health care policies, and inequalities. We will...Read more

SCTS 615: Geographies of Health

How does place shape our perspectives, experiences, and decisions about health? How do researchers produce knowledge about disease with location technologies? How are treatments conditioned by space? How does the rise of wellness culture privilege certain contexts and render others invisible?...Read more

SCTS 205: Artificial Intelligence & Society

Intelligent machines, we often hear, are soon to become smarter than humans. They are to radically transform society. This course will examine artificial intelligence (AI) and related digital worlds from a science and technology studies (STS) perspective. Whether considered as a threat or...Read more

SCTS 710: STS Lab: Philadelphia in a Changing Climate

Cities around the world are undertaking activities to address and prepare for climate change. Philadelphia is no exception. In fact, Drexel University’s home city is a dynamic space for climate adaptation work in municipal, nonprofit, health, and educational sectors. Local initiatives are backed...Read more

PSCI 573: Technoscientific Bodies

This course examines how bodies have been rendered by science, technology, and medicine in the twentieth and twenty- first centuries. Course modules are organized around enduring and emerging concepts in STS – labor, populations, difference, information, cyborgs, species, and ethics. Through...Read more

SCTS 612: MEDICAL AND HEALTHCARE ETHICS

The relatively new discipline of bioethics, which encompasses medical and healthcare ethics, has often been concerned with clinical practice. Work in the field has been designed to guide the behavior and decision-making of medical professionals. However, the scope of topics that might be...Read more