Extract

Motivated by the absence of public debate during the 1980s regarding the role of genetic technologies in society, Troy Duster wrote his now canonical book Backdoor to Eugenics (1990). The book sought to provide a sociological analysis that could foster informed discussion among the citizenry regarding genetic technologies, social structure and public policy. Twenty years on, John H. Evans's book Contested Reproduction (2010) responds to a subsequent explosion in public discussion regarding reproductive and genetic technologies. In the intervening years, questions about social structures and inequality have ostensibly become less prominent as religion and abortion have become key references in public opposition to these techniques. In this very different social milieu, Evans sets out to sociologically assess whether an informed, public debate regarding these technologies is at all possible in the United States. Drawing on the notion of culture wars, one might assume that as reproductive and genetic technologies have been positioned within the polarized domain of abortion, debate has become impossible. However, Evans contends that there is an opportunity for a conversant—and respectful—debate among the citizenry that includes both a religious dimension and remains open to alternative beliefs and opinions.

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