The Human Genome Project

1. SOC108 – TOPIC 11
The Human Genome Project

2. Learning and teaching objectives
• Explain the origins and aims of the Human
Genome Project.
• Understand how a sociological perspective can
make sense of the Human Genome Project,
including its implications for society.
• Consider how social scientists can contribute
to debates on the development of policies to
guide and regulate the new genetically based
technologies.
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3. The genetic revolution
• The Human Genome Project (HGP)
– international research program.
• October 1990 – spring 2003, to
map/discover all the estimated
20,000-25,000 human genes.
• April 2003: completion of the
human DNA sequence.
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4. Two phases since 2003
1. ‘Disease genetics’ – Search for disease
mutations believed to cause ill-health
conditions.
2. ‘Behavioural genetics’ – Search for genes that
are believed to affect behaviours.
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5. Biomedical perspective
Focus on the wide ranging benefits of gene
mapping, including:
• Reducing burden of genetically caused illness in
the community.
• Early intervention to delay or avoid development
of certain life-threatening diseases.
• Prenatal screening for the presence of genetically
caused conditions with possibility of termination.
• Forensic DNA ‘footprints’ for identification.
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6. Key sociological questions
• How can we apply the sociological imagination
to explain the likely implications of the human
genome project for society?
• How might we understand such developments
in terms of the treatment of disease from a
sociological point of view?
• How will the knowledge and possibilities that
such a project provides shape the sort of
society in which we live?
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7. A sociological analysis (1)
• Genetic reductionism and geneism.
• Genetic risk and individualisation.
• Biology and social inequality.
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8. A sociological analysis (2)
• Individual vs collective uses of the
knowledge arising from the new
genetics.
• Commodification and commercialisation
of genetic information.
• Biosurveillance and social control.
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9. What role for social scientists?
• Questioning the taken-for-grantedness of genetic
knowledge and the assumptions underpinning
new technologies.
• Understanding the social implications, and
particularly who benefits and who loses.
• Highlighting the structural context and power
relations that influence how genetic knowledge
and technologies are used in practice.
• Mapping the implications for social organisation
as well as identity/selfhood.
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