Health as Morality in American Life

This course examines the many ways in which the idea of health is morally constructed in American society and culture. Students investigate health as a moral value and study how conceptions of health affect individuals, shape culture, and organize society. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, we investigate how “health” constructs norms, stigma, and the experiences and practices of day-to-day life. Choosing from such topics as addiction, diet, vaccines, cigarettes, illness, disability, genetic testing, sex, and obesity, students write analyses about how moral constructions of health shape and are shaped by media, history, capitalism, politics, race, gender, and class.