Published in 2004, this collection will encourage and foster informed discussion of key issues as society comes to grips with the implications of genetic engineering, the mapping and sequencing of the human genome, and the advent of the post-genomic era. The contributors are prominent social scientists, health specialists, journalists, bioethicists and commercial representatives from the UK, Finland, Germany, Holland and Norway who are at the leading edge of current research. the book will therefore appeal to the interested public, health and other professionals, teachers and students. This book was originally published as part of the Cardiff Papers in Qualitative Research series edited by Paul Atkinson, Sara Delamont and Amanda Coffey. The series publishes original sociological research that reflects the tradition of qualitative and ethnographic inquiry developed at Cardiff. The series includes monographs reporting on empirical research, edited collections focussing on particular themes, and texts discussing methodological developments and issues.

Geno-technology is a technology unlike any other, with significant implications for life in the 21st century. It directly affects us at a deeply personal level, it poses a threat to the boundaries which conventionally define selfhood, it generates potentially novel risks and dangers, and it threatens the very basis of accepted understandings of culture and society. This unique, exploratory volume discusses the ethical, cultural and philosophical issues surrounding the search for the 'book of life', focusing on the mapping of the human genome in Britain, the USA and Europe. It examines the impact of genetically modified crops, food and pharmacogenomics, along with the science and technology policy issues deriving from the human genome project. The authors investigate the potential risks and implications of the new genetics and conclude with a discussion of how nature may be reconfigured to underpin developments in health, commerce, state regulation and the law, both on a local and global scale.

One of the first studies of an exciting new development in global biotechnology, this cutting edge text examines the extent of the transnational movements of tissues, stem cells, and expertise, in the developing governance framework of India.

Documenting the impact of local and global governance frames on the everyday conduct of research, this groundbreaking book traces the journey of spare human embryos in IVF clinics to public and private laboratories engaged in isolating stem cells for potential therapeutic application. The discussion also examines the gender dimension as a potential site for exploitation in the sourcing of embryonic and other biogenic materials, and suggests that a moral economy has developed in which the ethical values of the global 'North' support and encourage the donation of abundant and ethically neutral embryos by the 'South'.

This unique exploration is grounded in an empirical, multi-sited ethnographic study that takes a thoroughly comparative analysis of the ethical, religious and social issues in Europe, the United States, and organ donations already prevalent in India. In this theoretically-sensitive analysis, the authors use the resources of social anthropology and the social sciences in an innovative text which will appeal to postgraduates and professionals in the areas of STS studies, genetics, bioethics, and anthropology.

One of the first studies of an exciting new development in global biotechnology, this cutting edge text examines the extent of the transnational movements of tissues, stem cells, and expertise, in the developing governance framework of India.

Documenting the impact of local and global governance frames on the everyday conduct of research, this groundbreaking book traces the journey of 'spare' human embryos in IVF clinics to public and private laboratories engaged in isolating stem cells for potential therapeutic application. The discussion also examines the gender dimension as a potential site for exploitation in the sourcing of embryonic and other biogenic materials, and suggests that a moral economy has developed in which the ethical values of the global North support and encourage the donation of abundant and ethically 'neutral' embryos by the South.

This unique exploration is grounded in an empirical, multi-sited ethnographic study that takes a thoroughly comparative analysis of the ethical, religious and social issues in Europe, the United States, and organ donations already prevalent in India. In this theoretically-sensitive analysis, the authors use the resources of social anthropology and the social sciences in an innovative text which will appeal to postgraduates and professionals in the areas of STS studies, genetics, bioethics, and anthropology.

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.

New genetic technologies and their applications in biomedicine have important implications for social identities in contemporary societies. In medicine, new genetics is increasingly important for the identification of health and disease, the imputation of personal and familial risk, and the moral status of those identified as having genetic susceptibility for inherited conditions. There are also consequent transformations in national and ethnic collective identity, and the body and its investigation is potentially transformed by the possibilities of genetic investigations and modifications (including the highly controversial terrains of reproductive technologies and the use of human embryos in biomedical research).
The papers in this volume, drawn from an international array of authors, address these issues from a variety of national, disciplinary and empirical standpoints. An informative read for postgraduates and professionals in the fields of sociology, social anthropology, science and technology studies, and environmental studies, the chapters comprise empirically based and theoretically informed discussions of key sociological, anthropological, political and ethical issues.
Using the resources of a wide range of social science disciplines to provide a comparative approach to complex issues, this superb collection explores the local and global consequences of the new genetics, and analyzes the social implications of these advances for identity formation in a period of rapid social change.

The title of this book derives from C. Wright Mills' classic The Sociological Imagination (Penguin, 1970), in which he sees the essential project of social science as the use of the imagination to 'grasp history and biography and the relations between the two in society'. This enables the social scientist to 'range from the most impersonal and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human self'. Another of Mills' concerns was the relationship between 'the personal troubles of the milieu' and 'the public issues of social structure' and these are most acutely illustrated in human genetics, the most personal of the new technologies. The chapters in this volume address these issues through discussions of choice and informed decision-making, risks and hazards, the economic and political organization of new technology, and the public as well as the scientist's understanding of science. The methods used range from detailed ethnographies, through deconstruction's of text and action, to surveys and interviews.

Published in 2004, this collection will encourage and foster informed discussion of key issues as society comes to grips with the implications of genetic engineering, the mapping and sequencing of the human genome, and the advent of the post-genomic era. The contributors are prominent social scientists, health specialists, journalists, bioethicists and commercial representatives from the UK, Finland, Germany, Holland and Norway who are at the leading edge of current research. the book will therefore appeal to the interested public, health and other professionals, teachers and students. This book was originally published as part of the Cardiff Papers in Qualitative Research series edited by Paul Atkinson, Sara Delamont and Amanda Coffey. The series publishes original sociological research that reflects the tradition of qualitative and ethnographic inquiry developed at Cardiff. The series includes monographs reporting on empirical research, edited collections focussing on particular themes, and texts discussing methodological developments and issues.

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.

What implications are applications of new genetic technologies in biomedicine having on social identity in today s society?

New Genetics, New Identities, a wide-ranging multi-disciplinary volume in the CESAGen Genetics & Society Book series, presents not only theoretical reflection but also empirical case studies drawn from an international array of authors. Including the highly controversial areas of reproductive technologies and use of human embryos in biomedical research, other key features include:

• a fresh analysis of a wide-range of social and political concerns in the development of new social identities
• examinations of the social implications of identity formation as a result from advances in genetic technologies from a number of perspectives both locally and globally
• resources of a wide range of social science disciplines to discuss significant sociological, anthropological, political and ethical issues.

This superb collection is an essential informative read for postgraduates and academics in the fields of sociology, anthropology and scientific technologies giving a comparative approach to complex issues surrounding the social implications of these advances in a period of rapid social change."

Geno-technology is a technology unlike any other, with significant implications for life in the 21st century. It directly affects us at a deeply personal level, it poses a threat to the boundaries which conventionally define selfhood, it generates potentially novel risks and dangers, and it threatens the very basis of accepted understandings of culture and society. This unique, exploratory volume discusses the ethical, cultural and philosophical issues surrounding the search for the 'book of life', focusing on the mapping of the human genome in Britain, the USA and Europe. It examines the impact of genetically modified crops, food and pharmacogenomics, along with the science and technology policy issues deriving from the human genome project. The authors investigate the potential risks and implications of the new genetics and conclude with a discussion of how nature may be reconfigured to underpin developments in health, commerce, state regulation and the law, both on a local and global scale.