SOC 6180 - [AIDS and Society]

Spring. Next offered 2016-2017. 4 credits.

Enrollment limited to: graduate students and seniors with permission of instructor.

D. Heckathorn.

AIDS is a disease for which sociology is especially relevant. Unlike influenzas that spread through mere proximity or casual contact, AIDS is spread through social networks-typically sexual or drug- using networks. The first recognition of the network-basis of HIV transmission occurred in the early 1980s when the CDC established a task force to investigate a puzzling syndrome involving weakened immune systems. A sociologist on the team, William Darrow, suggested asking patients whether they knew one another. Their answers revealed a network linking patients within the East and West Coast sites where early cases where found, and also linking them across the two coasts. In this way, the network-basis of HIV transmission became clear.