Abstract
Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the DNA itself. The field is rapidly growing and being widely promoted, attracting attention in diverse arenas. These include those of the social sciences, where some researchers have been encouraged by the resonance between imaginaries of development within epigenetics and social theory. Yet, sustained attention from science and technology studies (STS) scholars to epigenetics and the praxis it propels has been lacking. In this article, we reflexively consider some of the ways in which epigenetics is being constructed as an area of biomedical novelty and discuss the content and logics underlying the ambivalent promises being made by scientists working in this area. We then reflect on the scope, limits and future of engagements between epigenetics and the social sciences. Our discussion is situated within wider literatures on biomedicine and society, the politics of “interventionist STS”, and on the problems of “caseness” within empirical social science.
Highlights
As “omics” science proliferates and the complexity of biological systems becomes the overarching ontology in the life sciences, epigenetics has come to play an increasingly central role in today’s molecular landscape
Often regarded as a branch of genetics, epigenetics articulates with developmental biology, endocrinology, immunology, plant science, psychiatry, and other interdisciplinary domains
Attempts are being made to produce hybrid communities that can undertake epigenetics research that is responsive to social scientific insights and findings: the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), for instance, held an “International Challenge Symposium” in Edinburgh in June 2012 on “Social Science and Epigenetics: Opportunities and Challenges” (ESRC 2012). This brought into conversation life, medical, psychological and social scientists to discuss the benefits epigenetics might afford the academy in terms of new understandings of the lived body, actively promoting interdisciplinary approaches
Summary
As “omics” science proliferates and the complexity of biological systems becomes the overarching ontology in the life sciences, epigenetics has come to play an increasingly central role in today’s molecular landscape. This brought into conversation life, medical, psychological and social scientists to discuss the benefits epigenetics might afford the academy in terms of new understandings of the lived body, actively promoting interdisciplinary approaches Initiatives such as this – reminiscent of those seen in synthetic biology (Molyneux-Hodgson and Meyer 2009) – seek to enroll investigators into a particular research agenda, and are structured by logics of innovation and ontology (Barry, Born, and Weszkalnys 2008): they seek to both propel sociotechnical change and (co-)produce novel conceptualizations of biosocial entities. Lessons from social scientists’ engagement in other areas of biomedicine – e.g. genetics and genomics, regenerative medicine, synthetic biology and neuroscience – suggest that our roles will be freighted with different expectations from our peers, life scientists, governments and industry, and the “insider/outsider” position familiar to many empirical researchers will prove challenging as well as creative
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