The Department of Sociology is pleased to announce that Professor Deborah Lynn Steinberg has just published a new book on Genes and the Bioimaginary. Genes and the Bioimaginary examines the dramatic rise and contemporary cultural apotheosis of ‘the gene’. In this book she traces not only the genetification of modern life but is also a journey through the complex relationship between science and culture.
 
At the heart of this book are three interlinked questions. The first concerns the paradigmatic transformations of the ‘genetics revolution’: how can we understand the impact of ‘genes’ on social arenas as diverse as law and agriculture, politics and medicine, genealogy and jurisprudence? Second, how has the language of genes come to pervade public discourse — as much a trope of personal narrative as of the popular imaginary? And third, how can we gain critical purchase not only on the conditions and consequences of a particular science, but on its projective seductions, the terms of its persuasion, and the dilemmas and anxieties provoked in its wake?

Through a series of illuminating case studies ranging from ‘gay genes’ to ‘Jew’s genes’, to genes for ‘crime’; from CSI to the Innocence Project, from genetics’ (post)racial imaginary to its phantasies of redemption, the book examines the emergence of the gene as a pre-eminent locus of both scientific and social explanation, and as a powerful object of spectacle, projective phantasy and attachment.

Genes and the Bioimaginary makes a distinctive contribution to our understanding of how knowledge comes to be not only powerful, but plausible.

Reviews: ‘Deborah Lynn Steinberg’s account of the ideologies underlying modern genetics is by far the very best critical reading of the subject. Taking the science seriously, she unravels many of the unstated social and cultural presuppositions that are masked by the claims of genetics as an objective science. An intelligent, readable book for everyone with a genome.’
Professor Sander L. Gilman, Emory University, USA

‘In Genes and the Bioimaginary, Steinberg calls us to acknowledge our collective authorship of the reproductive/transformative agencies of science. Through a well-chosen set of cases, her incisive and eloquent analytic voice offers us a passionately critical exposition of the gene, and guides us to a deeper understanding of the inseparability of scientific and cultural imaginaries.’
Professor Lucy Suchman, Lancaster University, UK

‘Through the powerful notion, “Bioimaginary”, Steinberg communicates a deep understanding of the intricate dispersals of knowledge, power and bodily sensibilities found in “modern day” genetics. This extraordinary book is contemporary, fascinating and a challenging intellectual intervention, jam-packed with illuminating case studies. Steinberg is dazzling when pushing theoretical boundaries. Scholars from many disciplines will be compelled to read her brilliance.’
Professor Elizabeth Ettorre, University of Liverpool, UK

Contents: Introduction; CH1: Languages of risk: genetic encryptions of the female body; CH 2: Metaphor, materiality and the gene; CH 3: Genes and the (post)racial imaginary; CH 4: Monster X: on gays, genes, mothers and mad scientists; CH 5: Trace: on genes and crime; CH 6: Beggars and choosers: genes and the neoliberal subject; CH 7: Seeking the Jew’s gene: science, spectacle, redemption; CH 8: Between biology and culture - what is ‘real’ about genes?; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author: Deborah Lynn Steinberg is Professor of Gender, Culture and Media Studies in the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick, UK. Her research interests span four key areas: cultures of science; media and cultural studies; gender and sexuality; and mourning and politics. She has published widely on cultures of the gene; biopower and the body; popular media; public mourning; and neoliberal (bio)ethics and politics. Previous books include: Bodies in Glass: Genetics, Eugenics, Embryo Ethics (1997, Manchester University Press); Made to Order: The Myth of Reproductive and Genetic Progress (1987, with P. Spallone, Pergamon Press); Border Patrols: Policing the Boundaries of Heterosexuality (1989, with D. Epstein and R. Johnson, Cassell); Mourning Diana: Nation, Culture and the Performance of Grief (1999, with A. Kear, Routledge); and Blairism and the War of Persuasion: Labour’s Passive Revolution (2004, with R Johnson, Lawrence and Wishart). Forthcoming: ‘The Bad Patient: Estranged Subjects of the Cancer Culture’ Body and Society (September 2015)

Author Contact: <http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/staff/academicstaff/deborahlynnsteinberg/>