New genetic technologies cut across a range of public regulatory domains and private lifeworlds, often appearing to generate an institutional void in response to the complex challenges they pose. As a result, a number of new social formations are being developed to legitimate public engagement and avoid the perceived democratic deficit that may result. Papers in this volume discuss a variety of these manifestations in a global context, including:
- genetic data banks
- committees of inquiry
- non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
- national research laboratories.
These institutions, across both health and agriculture, are explored in such diverse locations as Amazonia, China, Finland, Israel, the UK and the USA. This volume exhibits a clear thematic coherence around the impact of the new genetics and their associated technologies on new social formations, and the case studies included have a significant international focus, showing a balance between theoretical and empirical approaches in this rapidly changing field.
This innovative new volume will be of interest to postgraduates and professionals in the fields of sociology, social anthropology, science and technology studies, and environmental studies.
Author(s): Peter Glasner, Paul Atkinson, Helen Greenslade
Series: Genetics and Society
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 305
Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Series-Title......Page 3
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Illustrations......Page 8
Contributors......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 14
1. Introduction: New genetics, new social formations......Page 16
2. British public attitudes to agricultural biotechnology and the 2003 GM Nation? public debate: Distrust, ambivalence and risk......Page 25
3. The UK stem cell bank: Creating safe stem cell lines and public support?......Page 52
4. Public biotechnology inquiries: From rationality to reflexivity......Page 64
5. The precautionary principle on trial: The construction and transformation of the precautionary principle in the UK court context......Page 84
6. The social construction of the biotech industry......Page 109
7. Biopiracy and the bioeconomy......Page 129
8. Identifying John Moore: Narratives of persona in patent law relating to inventions of human origin......Page 153
9. Sampling policies of isolates of historical interest: The social and historical formation of research populations in the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China......Page 170
10. The making of scientific knowledge in the anthropological perspective: Case studies from the French scientific community......Page 183
11. Genomics and the transformation of knowledge: The bioinformatics challenge......Page 202
12. Science, media and society: The framing of bioethical debates around embryonic stem cell research between 2000 and 2005......Page 219
13. ‘Natural forces’: The regulation and discourse of genomics and advanced medical technologies in Israel......Page 246
14. Survival of the gene?: 21st-century visions from genomics, proteomics and the new biology......Page 268
Index......Page 294
