Faculty Books
Steven Epstein
Professor of Sociology and
John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities
1808 Chicago Avenue, room 206
Phone: (847) 491-5536
s-epstein@northwestern.edu
Office Hours: (Winter 2012)
Monday 2:30-3:30 and Thursdays 11:00-12:00
University Hall, Garden Level, Room 020
Areas of Interest
Sociology of Biomedicine
Sociology of Science
Social Movements
Health and Inequality
Sociology of Sexuality
LGBT Studies
Relevant Link
Science in Human Culture Program
Gender Studies Program
Cells 2 Society (C2S):
The Center on Social Disparities and Health
Biography
Ph.D (Sociology), University of California, Berkeley (1993). Professor Epstein is the director of the Science in Human Culture Program and of the interdisciplinary graduate cluster in Science Studies; a faculty member at the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities; a faculty affiliate in the Gender Studies program; and a faculty associate in Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Social Disparities and Health at the Institute for Policy Research. He is also a co-convener of the Sexualities Project at Northwestern (SPAN). Before joining the Northwestern faculty in 2009, Epstein spent the preceding 15 years on the faculty at the University of California, San Diego.
Professor Epstein studies the “politics of knowledge”—more specifically, the contested production of expert and especially biomedical knowledge, with an emphasis on the interplay of social movements, experts, and health institutions, and with a focus on the politics of sexuality, gender, and race. Recently, he is a co-editor of Three Shots at Prevention: The HPV Vaccine and the Politics of Medicine’s Simple Solutions (Johns Hopkins, 2010). He is especially known for two books: Inclusion: The Politics of Difference in Medical Research (Chicago, 2007), which received multiple awards, including the American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Book Award; and Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge (California, 1996), which also received multiple awards, including the C. Wright Mills Prize. He also coauthored Learning by Heart: AIDS and Schoolchildren in America’s Communities (Rutgers, 1989). Epstein has published in such journals as Social Studies of Science, Body & Society, Sociological Forum, Theory and Society, and Sexualities.
Epstein is involved in several ongoing research projects. He is studying the relationship between sexuality and biomedicine by examining the multiple social worlds that promote notions of “sexual health.” Following on his recent work on the politics of HPV vaccination, he is studying the impact of gender and sexual politics on understandings of various types of cancer. He is also a collaborator on a study of "sexual citizenship" among gay Mexican immigrants to the United States.
Epstein currently serves on the editorial boards of a number of journals, including Social Studies of Science and Sexualities. At Northwestern, he and Prof. Héctor Carrillo are co-conveners of the Sexualities Project at Northwestern (SPAN), a new initiative that promotes interdisciplinary research and education on sexuality and health in social context. SPAN funds faculty and graduate student research, a postdoctoral fellowship, and workshops, among other activities.
Courses Taught
Sociology Courses:
SOCIOL 220: Health, Biomedicine, Culture, and Society Syllabus
SOCIOL 476: Topics: Sociology of Health, Illness, and Biomedicine Syllabus
SOCIOL 476: The Politics of Knowledge: A Sociological Introduction to Science
and Technology Studies Syllabus
Humanities Courses:
HUM 220: Health, Biomedicine, Culture, and Society Syllabus
HUM 395: Seminar: The Politics of Gender/Sexuality in the Modern Life Sciences Syllabus
Gender Studies Courses:
GNDR_ST 390: Topics: The Politics of Gender/Sexuality in the Modern Life Sciences Syllabus
Books
THREE SHOTS AT PREVENTION: The HPV Vaccine and the Politics of Medicine's Simple Solutions
Johns Hopkins Press, 2010
INCLUSION: The Politics of Difference in Medical Research
University of Chicago Press, 2007
IMPURE SCIENCE: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge
University of California Press, 1996
LEARNING by HEART: AIDS and Schoolchildren in America’s Communities
Rutgers University Press, 1989
Publications
Thinking Sex Ethnographically
Commentary for special issue marking the 25th anniversary of Gayle Rubin’s essay “Thinking Sex.”
GQL, Duke University Press, 2011
A World of Standards but not a Standard World: Toward a Sociology of Standards and Standardization
(with Stefan Timmermans), Annual Review of Sociology, 2010
Culture and Science/Technology: Rethinking Knowledge, Power, Materiality, and Nature
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2008
The Rise of ‘Recruitmentology’: Clinical Research, Racial Knowledge, and the Politics of Inclusion and Difference
Social Studies of Science, Sage Publications, 2008
Sociology Robert F. Winch Awards for 2011
Outstanding Graduate Student Lecturer: Marina Zaloznaya
Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Assistants: Fiona Chin and Christopher Carroll
Outstanding Graduate Student Second-Year Paper: Jaimie Morse
Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Published or Presented:
Upcoming Events
Colloquium: Nicola Beisel, PhD - Sociology
February 23, 2012 • 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Culture and Society Workshop: Simone Ispa-Landa, Human Development and Social Policy
February 23, 2012 • 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
