Social Science Genetics Minor

Knowledge of genetics has led to major advances in the scientific understanding of behavior, society, and history. This includes the domestication of animals and selective breeding of plants. In the 19th and 20th century, more rigorous investigations used controlled experiments (e.g., plant and animal breeding experiments), and human family studies were used to learn about and quantify inheritance in plants and animals including humans. With the discovery of DNA and advances in genomic technologies, it is now possible to sequence all 3 billion letters of human DNA for hundreds of dollars. As the basic building blocks of life, our knowledge of genetics has utility and implications far beyond the fields of genetics and biology, impacting our understanding of the human condition. Scientists at the University of Minnesota routinely use these technologies to advance their fields. The minor in Social Science Genetics is meant to introduce students to existing genetic theory, facts, and innovations as they inform, and are informed by, the social sciences and humanities.

Social science genetics integrates methods and theories from genetics and social sciences to understand how genetic factors and environmental conditions interact to influence human behavior and society.

The curriculum requires completion of an introductory course in Biology (typically BIOL 1001) to introduce students to basic aspects of genetics; some students may take more advanced genetics. Then, students choose courses based on their interests. These include the use of genetics in:

Anthropology, where genetic tools are used to characterize and understand distant human history, long before events were memorialized in writing, a domain that has typically relied on sparse artifacts such as remnants of tools, pottery, and architecture. Genetics facilitates understandings of how humans have interacted with and adapted to the environment, which informs research on contemporary humans and society.

Psychology, where genetic tools are used to understand the etiology of behavior. For example, all behaviors are heritable, and scientists are now discovering genes and gene variants that affect behavior, including mental illness. While counterintuitive at first, students will also learn that genetic information is similarly important to understanding how human behavior is affected by human experience and, by the same token, how experience affects the expression and manifestation of genetic information.

Philosophy. Biology dominates the landscape of contemporary scientific research, and yet biology consists of a variety of different disciplinary approaches including genetics. In philosophical fashion, students will engage with fundamental questions such as what is evolution, what is a gene, whether all biological/psychological phenomena are reducible to genes or molecules, and whether there is such a thing as human "nature" or "nurture."

Computer science and bioinformatics. While not social science, genetics is a data-rich domain. Students interested in understanding and working directly with genetic data will benefit from an introduction to the analysis of genetic and related data.