Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins

Lessons on Belonging from Our DNA
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-0-520-39714-9
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 286 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 408 g

A geneticist and internationally recognized anti-racism educator provides a powerful, science-based rebuttal to common fallacies about human difference.

Well-meaning physicians, parents, and even scientists today often spread misinformation about what biology can and can’t tell us about our bodies, minds, and identities. In this accessible, myth-busting book, geneticist Shoumita Dasgupta draws on the latest science to correct common misconceptions about how much of our social identities are actually based in genetics.

Dasgupta weaves together history, current affairs, and cutting-edge science to break down how genetic concepts are misused and how we can approach scientific evidence in a socially responsible way. With a unifying and intersectional approach disentangling biology from bigotry, the book moves beyond race and gender to incorporate categories like sexual orientation, disability, and class. Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins is an invaluable, empowering resource for biologists, geneticists, science educators, and anyone working against bias in their community.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dasgupta, Shoumita

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Pädagogik
• Rechtswissenschaften Sozialrecht SGB-IX, Rehabilitation, Behindertenteilhabe
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Angewandte Ethik & Soziale Verantwortung Wissenschaftsethik, Technikethik
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Genetik und Genomik (nichtmedizinisch)
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

List of Figures, Tables, and Text Box

1. Why Me?

PART I WHAT DOES SCIENCE TELL US?
2. On the Origins of Bias

3. The Flawed Premise of Genetic Essentialism

4. Biology of Human Populations—Race, Ethnicity, and Ancestry

5. Biology of Human Populations—Sex and Gender

6. Pregnancy, Bodily Autonomy, and Reproductive Justice

7. Disability

8. What Genetics Doesn’t Fully Explain—Sociobehavioral Genetics and Society

PART II HISTORY AND POLICY
9. Contemporary Eugenics and Its Historical Roots
10. Personal Genetic Information, Privacy, and the Justice System

PART III GENETICS IN SCIENCE AND MEDICINE
11. Who Gets Left Behind

12. Race-Based Medicine

13. The Future of Genomic Medicine

PART IV INTEGRATING THESE STORIES
14. Our Shared Responsibilities

Afterword. A Call to Action

Acknowledgments

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Shoumita Dasgupta is the daughter of Bengali immigrants, a woman of color in STEM, and a scientist educator and geneticist. She is Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean of Diversity & Inclusion at Boston University, a Fulbright Specialist, and a member of the inaugural cohort of faculty affiliates at the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research.