1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910789418303321

Autore

Jasanoff Sheila

Titolo

Designs on nature [[electronic resource] ] : science and democracy in Europe and the United States / / Sheila Jasanoff

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Princeton, N.J., : Princeton University Press, c2005

ISBN

1-283-13337-7

9786613133373

1-4008-3731-6

Edizione

[Course Book]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (391 p.)

Classificazione

02.02

58.30

Disciplina

338.9/26

Soggetti

Democracy and science - Europe

Democracy and science - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"Fourth printing, and first paperback printing, 2007."

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Why compare? -- Controlling narratives -- A question of Europe -- Unsettled settlements -- Food for thought -- Natural mothers and other kinds -- Ethical sense and sensibility -- Making something of life -- The new social contract -- Civic epistemology -- Republics of science.

Sommario/riassunto

Biology and politics have converged today across much of the industrialized world. Debates about genetically modified organisms, cloning, stem cells, animal patenting, and new reproductive technologies crowd media headlines and policy agendas. Less noticed, but no less important, are the rifts that have appeared among leading Western nations about the right way to govern innovation in genetics and biotechnology. These significant differences in law and policy, and in ethical analysis, may in a globalizing world act as obstacles to free trade, scientific inquiry, and shared understandings of human dignity. In this magisterial look at some twenty-five years of scientific and social development, Sheila Jasanoff compares the politics and policy of the life sciences in Britain, Germany, the United States, and in the European Union as a whole. She shows how public and private actors in each setting evaluated new manifestations of biotechnology and tried



to reassure themselves about their safety. Three main themes emerge. First, core concepts of democratic theory, such as citizenship, deliberation, and accountability, cannot be understood satisfactorily without taking on board the politics of science and technology. Second, in all three countries, policies for the life sciences have been incorporated into "nation-building" projects that seek to reimagine what the nation stands for. Third, political culture influences democratic politics, and it works through the institutionalized ways in which citizens understand and evaluate public knowledge. These three aspects of contemporary politics, Jasanoff argues, help account not only for policy divergences but also for the perceived legitimacy of state actions.