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Race in an epigenetic time: thinking biology in the plural

journal contribution
posted on 2017-01-01, 00:00 authored by Maurizio MeloniMaurizio Meloni
The notion that biological memories of environmental experiences can be embedded in the human genome and even transmitted transgenerationally is increasingly relevant in the postgenomic world, particularly in molecular epigenetics, where the genome is conceptualized as porous to environmental signals. In this article I discuss the current rethinking of race in epigenetic rather than genetic terms, emphasizing some of its paradoxical implications, especially for public policy. I claim in particular that: (i) if sociologists want to investigate race in a postgenomic world they should pay more attention to this novel plastic and biosocial view of race; and (ii) there are no reasons to believe that an epigenetic view will extinguish race, or that soft-inheritance claims will produce a less exclusionary discourse than genetics (hard heredity). Quite the opposite, the ground for a re-racialization of social debates and the reinforcement of biological boundaries between groups are highlighted in the article.

History

Journal

BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Volume

68

Pagination

389-409

Location

England

ISSN

0007-1315

eISSN

1468-4446

Language

English

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2017, London School of Economics and Political Science

Issue

3

Publisher

WILEY