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Brave new brains: sociology, family and the politics of knowledge

Brave new brains: sociology, family and the politics of knowledge
Brave new brains: sociology, family and the politics of knowledge
This article critically explores sociological arguments for greater biosocial synthesis, centring contemporary developments in public policy to demonstrate how such a reframing of humanity tends to reinforce existing political orders and socially patterned normativities. The case for further amalgamation of the social and life sciences is examined to suggest that production of somatic markers of truth from relational encounters largely relies upon an anaemic and politically contained version of the social as acquired in early childhood. More specifically, the gendered, classed and culturally specific practice of parenting children has come to occupy a new significance in accounts of social brains and environmentally reactive genomes. This is highlighted through a discussion of ‘early intervention’ as a heavily biologized policy rationale framing opportunities for biosocial collaboration. It is argued that late capitalist objectives of personal investment and optimization are driving this assimilation of the social and life sciences, pursuing an agenda that traces and re-scores long-standing social divisions in the name of progress.
0038-0261
219-237
Gillies, Val
9c9bcf7c-be6d-4fce-bc64-4df1c1953db1
Edwards, Rosalind
e43912c0-f149-4457-81a9-9c4e00a4bb42
Horsley, Nicola
e1ee0dd8-f81a-471d-9a92-ebabb9036edf
Gillies, Val
9c9bcf7c-be6d-4fce-bc64-4df1c1953db1
Edwards, Rosalind
e43912c0-f149-4457-81a9-9c4e00a4bb42
Horsley, Nicola
e1ee0dd8-f81a-471d-9a92-ebabb9036edf

Gillies, Val, Edwards, Rosalind and Horsley, Nicola (2016) Brave new brains: sociology, family and the politics of knowledge. The Sociological Review, 64 (2), 219-237. (doi:10.1111/1467-954X.12374).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article critically explores sociological arguments for greater biosocial synthesis, centring contemporary developments in public policy to demonstrate how such a reframing of humanity tends to reinforce existing political orders and socially patterned normativities. The case for further amalgamation of the social and life sciences is examined to suggest that production of somatic markers of truth from relational encounters largely relies upon an anaemic and politically contained version of the social as acquired in early childhood. More specifically, the gendered, classed and culturally specific practice of parenting children has come to occupy a new significance in accounts of social brains and environmentally reactive genomes. This is highlighted through a discussion of ‘early intervention’ as a heavily biologized policy rationale framing opportunities for biosocial collaboration. It is argued that late capitalist objectives of personal investment and optimization are driving this assimilation of the social and life sciences, pursuing an agenda that traces and re-scores long-standing social divisions in the name of progress.

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Accepted/In Press date: 12 March 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 May 2016
Published date: 2016
Organisations: Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 389834
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/389834
ISSN: 0038-0261
PURE UUID: 186a6093-ec44-4a45-9660-5e5aa57289dc
ORCID for Rosalind Edwards: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3512-9029

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 16 Mar 2016 09:48
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 05:25

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Contributors

Author: Val Gillies
Author: Nicola Horsley

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