Steven G. Epstein, Professor

Ph.D. - UC Berkeley, 1993

Steven G. Epstein

Areas of Specialization: sociology of biomedicine, health, and illness; sociology of science and scientific knowledge; gender, sexuality, race, and biomedicine; health and inequality; science policy and health policy; social movements; sociology of sexuality; lesbian and gay studies; and sociological theory.

Email Address: sepstein@ucsd.edu
Phone number: 858-534-0489
Office location: 476 Social Science Building

Office Hours

Curriculum Vitae

Personal Web Page - (includes course syllabi)

Steve Epstein received his B.A. from Harvard College (Social Studies) and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (Sociology). He spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow in the Science Studies Program at UCSD before joining the sociology department faculty. His award-winning book, Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge (1996), is a study of the politicized production of knowledge in the AIDS epidemic in the U.S.; this work reflects his interest in the construction of expertise, the democratization of science, and the resolution of medical controversies. His book Inclusion: The Politics of Difference in Medical Research (to be published in May 2007) charts the rise and assesses the consequences of new ways of managing difference (especially gender and race) within biomedical research in the U.S. He has also published articles on the sociology of sexuality and gay identities and movements. His areas of academic interest and teaching include: sociology of biomedicine, health, and illness; sociology of science and scientific knowledge; gender, sexuality, race, and biomedicine; health and inequality; science policy and health policy; social movements; sociology of sexuality; lesbian and gay studies; and sociological theory. Prof. Epstein is currently the director of UCSD's Science Studies Program.

On Sabbatical in 2008/09

 

Books and Recent Publications:

Inclusion: The Politics of Difference in Medical Research (University of Chicago Press, forthcoming May 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, with David L. Kirp, Marlene Strong Franks, Jonathan Simon, Doug Conaway, and John Lewis (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1989).

"The New Attack on Sexuality Research: Morality and the Politics of Knowledge Production." Sexuality Research and Social Policy 3, no. 1 (March 2006): 1-12.

"Institutionalizing the New Politics of Difference in U.S. Biomedical Research: Thinking across the Science/State/Society Divides." Pp. 327-50 in The New Political Sociology of Science: Institutions, Networks and Power, edited by Scott Frickel and Kelly Moore. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006.

"Bodily Differences and Collective Identities: The Politics of Gender and Race in Biomedical Research in the United States." Body & Society 10, no. 2-3 (2004): 183-203.

"Inclusion, Diversity, and Biomedical Knowledge-Making: The Multiple Politics of Representation." Pp. 173-90 in How Users Matter: The Co-Construction of Users and Technology, ed. Nelly Oudshoorn and Trevor Pinch. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003.

"An Incitement to Discourse: Sociology and The History of Sexuality." Sociological Forum 18, no. 3 (September 2003): 486-500.

"Sexualizing Governance and Medicalizing Identities: The Emergence of 'State-Centered' LGBT Health Politics in the United States." Sexualities 6, no. 2 (May 2003): 131-171.