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Scrutinizing the Epigenetics Revolution

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The Palgrave Handbook of Biology and Society

Abstract

Epigenetics is frequently framed as a revolutionary turn that heralds a new epoch both for gene-based epistemology and the wider society. The fundamentals of this revolution remain however to be scrutinized. In this chapter, we propose a roadmap for social theorizing on epigenetics along three paths of investigation. The first looks at the structuring elements of controversies and visions around epigenetics. The second probes the mutual constitution between the epigenetic reordering of life and the normative settlements that orient individual and collective responsibilities. The third highlights the material import of epigenetics and the molecularization of culture that it mediates. Through these complementary strands we aim to advance the social study of epigenetics as a new critical frontier in the social studies of the life sciences.

Who you are is written in both pen and pencil: things written in pen

you can’t change: that’s DNA; but things written in pencil, you can: that’s epigenetics.

(Reliv International, promoting the soy peptide extract, LunaRich X™)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    As Richardson (2016) acutely notes in three of the most classic experimental studies of epigenetic mechanisms (agouti gene in mice; season’s influence in voles; licking/grooming in rats) the epigenetic modification is always introduced via the behavior or physiology of the mother.

  2. 2.

    As a National Institute of Environmental Health Science document (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/strategicplan/visionary-ideas/health-status/index.cfm) explains the notion of the exposome “replaces the chemical-by-chemical approach to finding causes of disease and includes endogenous and exogenous exposures”. The emphasis on this new concept is evident from the following lines: “Characterizing the human exposome represents a challenge similar to the HGP, which began when DNA sequencing was in its infancy”. See also, The Human Exposome Project at humanexposomeproject.com/. Two major grants on the exposome have been awarded by the EU in 2012.

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Author notes

  1. Both the authors contributed equally. This chapter originally appeared as an article published in BioSocieties (2014) 9, 431–456, online 4 August 2014. It is available open access under a CC BY license at https://doi.org/10.1057/biosoc.2014.22.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Maurizio Meloni

  2. University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Giuseppe Testa

Authors
  1. Maurizio Meloni
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  2. Giuseppe Testa
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Maurizio Meloni

  2. School of Management, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    John Cromby

  3. Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Des Fitzgerald

  4. Department of Anthropology, Laval University, Québec, Canada

    Stephanie Lloyd

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Meloni, M., Testa, G. (2018). Scrutinizing the Epigenetics Revolution. In: Meloni, M., Cromby, J., Fitzgerald, D., Lloyd, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Biology and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52879-7_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52879-7_9

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-52878-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52879-7

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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