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Renée Claire Fox (February 15, 1928 – September 23, 2020) was an American sociologist. She was a summa cum laude graduate of
Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...
in 1949, earned her Ph.D. in
Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
in 1954 from
Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...
,
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, where she studied in the Department of Social Relations. Renée Fox’s major teaching and research interests – sociology of medicine, medical research, medical education, and medical ethics – involved her in first-hand, participant observation-based studies in Continental Europe (particularly in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
), in Central Africa (especially in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
), and in the People’s Republic of China, as well as in the United States. She lectured in colleges, universities, and medical schools throughout the United States, and taught in a number of universities abroad.


Early life

Renée Claire Fox was born on February 15, 1928, in New York City to parents Fred Fox and Henrietta and had two younger siblings, a brother, Howard, and a sister, Rosa. She was of East European Jewish descent. Her father was the founder of P.F. Fox & Co. Investment Securities. Fox was raised in the city and attended elementary school at P.S 9 with her siblings. She graduated from 8th grade at the age of twelve and went to Julia Richman, an all-girls public school, for high school. Fox graduated high school at the age of 16 and then enrolled in Smith College in Massachusetts.


Education


Smith College (1944–1945, 1947–1949)

Fox attended
Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...
from 1944 to 1945. While attending, she lived in Jordan House. As a freshman, she took courses in Introductory English and Speech, the latter of which was taken to lessen her New York accent. At the end of the year she was named a Sophie Smith Scholar for academic achievement. During the summer after her freshman year, Smith became diagnosed with bulbospinal
polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...
. She spent several months at Sydenham Hospital in Harlem and Knickerbocker Hospital. In September 1947, Fox returned to Smith College to continue in her Junior year. She lived in Chapin House and joined the honors program for sociology. Her senior honors thesis research involved “learning more about the history of the Soviet Union and the American Communist Party, in examining the status and role of intellectuals in American Society, particularly the literary intelligentsia, and in analyzing the symbolic as well as the economic and political impact of the Depression on the American scene.” Based upon her overall academic achievement and her senior thesis work, Fox graduated from Smith in 1949 with summa cum laude honors. Fox returned to Smith in 1975 to be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree and in 1980 as a visiting William Allen Neilson Professor of Sociology and Anthropology. As a visiting professor, she taught courses and delivered a lecture series entitled, “''Life, Death, and Modern Medicine.''”


Whittier College (1946–1947)

Following her long bout with polio, Fox and her family ventured to Southern California for the summer of 1946. While there it was found that the weather agreed with the still recovering Fox. Wanting to resume her education, she enrolled in Whittier College located in Whittier, California. She spent one year studying and gaining influence from her peers there before returning to Smith College.


Harvard (1949–1954)

After graduating from Smith College, Fox entered the Department of Social Relations of
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in pursuit of a Ph.D. in sociology. At the time women were not eligible for doctorate degrees at Harvard and subsequently her degree was issued by
Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...
. It was while at Harvard that Fox met sociologist
Talcott Parsons Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in soci ...
. “What is translucently clear is that it was Talcott Parsons, my foremost teacher, and mentor, who had the most profound and enduring influence on shaping the sociologist that I was to become.” Parsons sparked Fox’s initial interest in the field of
medical sociology Medical sociology is the sociological analysis of health, Illness, differential access to medical resources, the social organization of medicine, Health Care Delivery, the production of medical knowledge, selection of methods, the study of action ...
. Fox conducted her dissertation on
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
(TB) patients and their physicians, who both cared for the patients and conducted clinical research on them. Her work was published under the title, "''Ward F-Second and the Research Physician: A study of Stress and Ways of Coming to Terms with Stress''." This was the foundation for her book ''"Experiment Perilous''".


Fieldwork in Belgium

Fox was widely known for her interdisciplinary and cross-cultural fieldwork. In 1959, Fox began research in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
. She conducted ethnographic research there nearly every summer for forty years. To start she was interested in researching Belgians because they often return to Belgium after attending medical school in the United States. Eventually, her focal point became researching Belgium through the lens of their medical system. In 1978 Fox published “Why Belgium” to explain her area and location of research. In this essay, she described Belgium as particularistic due to society being divided into distinct groups – by social class, religion, political affiliation, language, and region. Fox noted this particularism creates labels that effect Belgian’s education and research opportunities as well as medical access. From a functionalist perspective, Fox viewed Belgium to be divided into these various groups yet functioning through pluralism due to the wide acceptance of ‘separate but equal.’ Fox also observed Belgians to be energized and united due to their Catholic-equivalent of the
Protestant work ethic The Protestant work ethic, also known as the Calvinist work ethic or the Puritan work ethic, is a work ethic concept in sociology, economics, and history. It emphasizes that a person's subscription to the values espoused by the Protestantism, Pro ...
. There have been disputes over Belgium’s existence, and Fox wrote in “Why Belgium” that she observed distinct culture in Belgium and believed Belgium indeed exists. Her discovery that there is a common culture throughout Belgium has been disputed by Belgians due to Belgium’s particularism. To develop a deeper understanding of the Belgian society, Fox travelled to Belgium’s former colony,
Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...
, which today is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Central Africa.


Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

In 1992, Fox, already in her late sixties, decided to study one of the most renowned nongovernmental organizations, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the dilemmas the organization and its members and staff face while delivering medical care, bearing witness of violence in affected areas, and advocacy. Previous work in medical sociology and cultural immersion in Belgium was pertinent to her decision to pursue the endeavor to study the multidimensional problems within MSF.


Russia Mission Work (1992–2000)

Upon arrival to the Médicins Sans Frontières-Belgium (MSF-B) office in Russia, Fox and a former student, Olga Shevchenko, noticed that the office personnel was divided between nationals and foreigners, although not all Belgian, which lead to difficulties with the decision-making capabilities and the organizational structure among them. However, the Russian staff in the office were helpful in the regard that they had vast amounts of cultural capital and knowledge about Russian lifestyles at the time. In 1992, the main project generated in Russia combated the rising homeless population in Moscow by offering medical consultants, preventative and curative health care, and social consultants. The end goal of the project was to hopefully de-stigmatize how the homeless were seen by the general public and to transfer the program to municipal authorities and the Department of Health in Moscow. MSF-B also coordinated two other programs in
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
and
Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...
and were dubbed the "Siberia Project" and the "Caucasus Project", respectively. In 1995, MSF-B moved their attention to prison colonies in Siberia after an appeal was made to have MSF facilitate the treatment of TB in those colonies. When the MSF staff reached the colony, they replenished the community with construction materials, soap, and clothes. Afterward, the medical program was put in motion, providing prisoners with TB screening and anti-TB medication, sanitary conditions, and training for prison medical staff to adopt a protocol to carry out effective treatment and analysis of any future epidemics. MSF-B also tried persuading the Kemerovo government and the Ministry of Justice to adopt the TB control strategy that the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
(WHO) uses,
DOTS Directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS, also known as TB-DOTS) is the name given to the tuberculosis (TB) control strategy recommended by the World Health Organization. According to WHO, "The most cost-effective way to stop the spread of ...
. The "Siberia Project" was spread to aid in the treatment of non-prisoners in Mariinsk. The third program that MSF-B facilitated was based in Chechnya and Dagestan. Both territories were subject to the First Chechen Campaign (1994–1996) and Second Chechen Campaign (1999–2000). The area affected by both wars still are under influence of insurgent activity and has led to the displacement of Chechens. The "Caucasus Project" aimed to provide medical assistance and psychosocial care, food, and shelter to thousands of civilians in Chechnya and Ingushetia.


South Africa Mission Work (2001)

After observing the work done by MSF in Russia, Fox moved onto field research in Cape Town, South Africa. Once there, her research was narrowed down to the work carried out in the Khayelitsha community, where the
HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
pandemic was concentrated. The MSF program in
Khayelitsha Khayelitsha () is a township (South Africa), township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town, City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa language, Xhosa for ''New Home''. It is reputed to ...
aimed to integrate a regimen of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to eventually have the community have maximized access to treatment through a primary care infrastructure. Additionally, it geared toward breaking down the stigma associated with having the disease by building up "treatment literacy" and community education to lower the transmission. Because the pandemic scale of HIV/AIDS requires long-term surveillance of communities such as Khayelitsha, Fox had the opportunity to make many successive trips to Cape Town, where she observed the evolution of the program. Two macro-issues became apparent while observing the operation of the program: "patient selection" (the endeavor to maximize the treatment and medicines available to as many people with HIV/AIDS) and the struggle to have the government implement a national HIV/AIDS prevention program.


Medical sociology

Fox was primarily a sociologist of medicine. Based on fieldwork in a variety of medical settings in the United States, Belgium, and Zaire, her ethnographic work examined chronic and terminal illness, medical research, therapeutic innovation, medical education and socialization, and bio-ethics. Her work not only considered medical practice but also medical research, patient experiences and the nature of uncertainty for patients and healers. Out of this work grew her interests in medical education as well as medical ethics, a field she engaged some years before there was such a thing as Bioethics. Fox argued that bioethicists should be trained in the social sciences before being trained in bioethics. In an abstract of a collection of her essays, the author writes that “Dr. Fox has explored basic cultural phenomena and questions associated with health, illness, and medicine: values, beliefs, symbols, rites, and the nuances of language: ethical and existential dilemmas and dualities; and the complex interrelationships between medicine, science, religion, and magic. She draws systematically and imaginatively upon anthropological, psychological, historical, and biological insights and integrates observations and analyses from her own studies in American, Western European, and Central African societies.” Fox went on to combine ethnography with history in her study of the development of the Congolese medical profession (1968). During the years of 1962-1967 she made five trips to Congo-Léopoldville. The Republic of Congo was a newly independent country when she was visiting. She studied religion, rebellions, and politics in the Congo. They were gaining their first Congolese physicians and developing medical practices and ethics. Her studies were centered on how the outside factors influenced medical practices.


Publications (selected)

Books Fox was the author of a number of academic books, mainly on medical sociology and ethics; some of them have been translated into French or Japanese. * * * * * * * * * Book chapters * *
''Revised Version'' in * Articles * * * * * * * * *


References

*


External links


Dr. Fox's Web page at the University of Pennsylvania
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Renee 1928 births 2020 deaths Smith College alumni Radcliffe College alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Fellows of the Hastings Center Medical sociologists American women sociologists American sociologists Scientists from New York City Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society Members of the National Academy of Medicine 21st-century American women