Exploring the post-genomic world: Differing explanatory and manipulatory functions of post-genomic sciences


Autoria(s): Holmes, Christina; Carlson, Siobhan M.; McDonald, Fiona; Jones, Mavis; Graham, Janice
Data(s)

25/02/2016

Resumo

Richard Lewontin proposed that the ability of a scientific field to create a narrative for public understanding garners it social relevance. This article applies Lewontin's conceptual framework of the functions of science (manipulatory and explanatory) to compare and explain the current differences in perceived societal relevance of genetics/genomics and proteomics. We provide three examples to illustrate the social relevance and strong cultural narrative of genetics/genomics for which no counterpart exists for proteomics. We argue that the major difference between genetics/genomics and proteomics is that genomics has a strong explanatory function, due to the strong cultural narrative of heredity. Based on qualitative interviews and observations of proteomics conferences, we suggest that the nature of proteins, lack of public understanding, and theoretical complexity exacerbates this difference for proteomics. Lewontin's framework suggests that social scientists may find that omics sciences affect social relations in different ways than past analyses of genetics.

Formato

application/pdf

Identificador

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/94932/

Publicador

Taylor and Francis

Relação

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/94932/2/Exploring%20the%20post%20genomic%20world%20differing%20explanatory%20and%20manipulatory%20functions%20of%20post%20genomic%20sciences.pdf

DOI:10.1080/14636778.2015.1133280

Holmes, Christina, Carlson, Siobhan M., McDonald, Fiona, Jones, Mavis, & Graham, Janice (2016) Exploring the post-genomic world: Differing explanatory and manipulatory functions of post-genomic sciences. New Genetics and Society, 35(1), pp. 49-68.

CIHR/OGH-111402

Direitos

Copyright 2016 The Author(s)

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.

Fonte

Faculty of Law; Australian Centre for Health Law Research; School of Law

Palavras-Chave #169999 Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified #189999 Law and Legal Studies not elsewhere classified #proteomics #genomics #public understanding of science
Tipo

Journal Article