Research Catalog

Political biology : science and social values in human heredity from eugenics to epigenetics

Title
Political biology : science and social values in human heredity from eugenics to epigenetics / Maurizio Meloni, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, UK.
Author
Meloni, Maurizio, 1971-
Publication
Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York, NY : Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library QH438.7 .M454 2016Off-site

Details

Description
xi, 284 pages : illustration; 23 cm
Summary
"This book explores the socio-political implications of human heredity from the second half of the nineteenth century to the present postgenomic moment. It addresses three main phases in the politicization of heredity: the peak of radical eugenics (1900-1945), characterized by an aggressive ethos of supporting the transformation of human society via biological knowledge; the repositioning, after 1945, of biological thinking into a liberal-democratic, human rights framework; and the present postgenomic crisis in which the genome can no longer be understood as insulated from environmental signals. In Political Biology, Maurizio Meloni argues that thanks to the ascendancy of epigenetics we may be witnessing a return to soft heredity - the idea that these signals can cause changes in biology that are themselves transferable to succeeding generations. This book will be of great interest to scholars across science and technology studies, the philosophy and history of science, and political and social theory" -- From the publisher.
Subject
  • Human genetics > Social aspects
  • Human genetics > History
  • Eugenics
  • Epigenetics
  • Politics, Practical
  • Heredity
  • Eugenics > history
  • Epigenomics > history
  • Politics
  • Social Values > history
  • History, 19th Century
  • History, 20th Century
  • History, 21st Century
  • Eugenics
  • politics
  • Politics, Practical
  • Epigenetics
  • Human genetics
  • Human genetics > Social aspects
  • Humangenetik
  • Epigenetik
  • Eugenik
  • Politisierung
  • Geschichte
Genre/Form
History
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-275) and index.
Contents
Political biology and the politics of epistemology -- Nineteenth century: from heredity to hard-heredity -- Into the wild: the radical ethos of eugenics -- A political quadrant -- Time for a repositioning: political biology after 1945 -- Pillars of democratic biology -- Welcome to postgenomics: reactive genomes, epigenetics and the rebirth of soft-heredity -- Conclusions: the quandary of political biology in the twenty-first century.
ISBN
  • 9781137377715
  • 1137377712
  • 9781349677368
  • 1349677361
  • 9781137377739 (canceled/invalid)
  • 9781137377729 (canceled/invalid)
  • 9781137377722 (canceled/invalid)
LCCN
  • 2015033202
  • 40025877678
OCLC
  • ocn922910337
  • 922910337
  • SCSB-1845436
Owning Institutions
Princeton University Library