1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910781887103321

Autore

Finkler Kaja

Titolo

Experiencing the New Genetics : Family and Kinship on the Medical Frontier / / Kaja Finkler

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia : , : University of Pennsylvania Press, , [2010]

©2000

ISBN

1-283-21107-6

9786613211071

0-8122-0060-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (292 p.)

Disciplina

306.4/61

Soggetti

SOCIAL SCIENCE

Anthropology / General

Families - Social aspects - United States

Heredity, Human - Social aspects

Kinship

Medical genetics

Families

Anthropology

Biomedical Research

Biology

Genotype

Psychology, Social

Medicine

Disease Susceptibility

Sociology

Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities

Behavioral Sciences

Diseases

Genetic Phenomena

Disease Attributes

Social Sciences

Health Occupations

Behavioral Disciplines and Activities

Research

Biological Science Disciplines

Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms

Occupations



Psychology

Science

Natural Science Disciplines

Pathologic Processes

Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Genetics, Medical

Adoption

Genetic Determinism

Family

Genetics, Behavioral

Genetic Research

Anthropology, Cultural

Genetics

Genetic Predisposition to Disease

Genetic Diseases, Inborn

Social & Cultural Anthropology

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- Part I. Setting the Stage: Kinship and Genetics -- Chapter 2. The Role of Kinship in Human Life -- Chapter 3. Family and Kinship in American Society -- Chapter 4. Concepts of Heredity in Western Society -- Part II. Setting Out People's Experience -- Chapter 5. People with a Genetic History I -- Chapter 6. People with a Genetic History II -- Chapter 7. People Without a Medical History -- Part III. Implications -- Chapter 8. The Ideology of Genetic Inheritance in Contemporary Life -- Chapter 9. A Multidimensional Critique of Genetic Determinism -- Chapter 10. Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index -- Acknowledgments

Sommario/riassunto

Over the past several decades there has been an explosion of interest in genetics and genetic inheritance within both the research community and the mass media. The science of genetics now forecasts great advances in alleviating disease and prolonging human life, placing the family and kin group under the spotlight.In Experiencing the New Genetics, Kaja Finkler argues that the often uncritical presentation of research on genetic inheritance as well as the attitudes of some in the biomedical establishment contribute to a "genetic essentialism," a new genetic determinism, and the medicalization of kinship in American society. She explores some of the social and cultural consequences of this phenomenon. Finkler discovers that the new genetics can turn a healthy person into a perpetual patient, complicate the redefinition of the family that has been occurring in American society for the past few decades, and lead to the abdication of responsibility for addressing the problem of unhealthy environmental conditions. Experiencing the New Genetics will assist scholars and general readers alike in making sense of this timely and multifaceted issue.