Sociology of the Body

Course Description: How do bodies become part of social life? Why are some bodies valued over others? Why are some bodies policed more than others? How do chemicals, molecules, minerals, and flesh become what we understand to be the body? The body is many things. It is an object of regulation, desire, disgust. It is a mechanism for sensation: material and symbolic. They are the mediums through which social structures are realized. In this class, we will look at the body through C. Wright Mills concept of the sociological imagination. We will explore the sociology of the body and embodiment using our own bodies as the primary analytic. Each week, guided by theories in the cannons of “Sociology of the Body” and “Science and Technology Studies,” we will dissect interdisciplinary readings and films that help us understand how our bodies are shaped through micro and macro social forces. Loosely following the map of a human body, we will touch on different body parts as well as different relations to the body. Throughout the course, students will work on a semester-long project wherein we build a collective body of writing. This collection will comprise of creative writing, poetry, personal essays, or research papers about how social forces shape our bodies.

Offered Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 at Southwestern University by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.