Brave New Brains: Sociology, Family and the Politics of Knowledge

Abstract

This article critically explores sociological arguments for greater biosocial synthesis, centring contemporary developments in public policy to demonstrate how such a reframing of humanity tends to reinforce existing political orders and socially patterned normativities. The case for further amalgamation of the social and life sciences is examined to suggest that production of somatic markers of truth from relational encounters largely relies upon an anaemic and politically contained version of the social as acquired in early childhood. More specifically, the gendered, classed and culturally specific practice of parenting children has come to occupy a new significance in accounts of social brains and environmentally reactive genomes. This is highlighted through a discussion of 'early intervention' as a heavily biologized policy rationale framing opportunities for biosocial collaboration. It is argued that late capitalist objectives of personal investment and optimization are driving this assimilation of the social and life sciences, pursuing an agenda that traces and rescores long-standing social divisions in the name of progress.

What we talk about when we talk about family?: Concept in context

“…Poseban način na koji se baštini parsonsijansko nasleđe predstavljaju teorije razmene ili teorije resursa. U okviru svog pristupa "mikroekonomije porodice", Geri Beker (Becker, 1981) porodice posmatra kao "male fabrike" koje proizvode decu i ostala dobra, uključujući zdravlje i ugled (Gillies, Edwards, Horsley, 2016). Prema ovom stanovištu, porodice ne održava ni osećanje obaveze, niti osećanja, već prvenstveno zajednički interesi.…”

Neuro-Enhancement Practices across the Lifecourse: Exploring the Roles of Relationality and Individualism

“…The ways pediatric neuroenhancement is promoted are therefore closely bound up with prevailing cultural constructions of the parent-child relationship. The discourse that surrounds neuro-enhancement is premised on deeply engrained beliefs about parenting, and more particularly mothering (Gillies et al, 2016). In particular, pediatric neuroenhancement dovetails with an ethic of "intensive parenting" (Hays, 1996) that encourages parents to invest maximal time, energy, and resources in the "concerted cultivation" (Lareau, Neuro-Enhancement, Relationality, and Individualism Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org March 2017 | Volume 2 | Article 1 2002) of their child's abilities.…”

“…The "social" that is imbricated in neuro-enhancement is a very narrow form of relationality, based on immediate interpersonal relationships rather than collective bonds (Gillies et al, 2016). In close familial relationships, the psychological separation between "self " and "other" is somewhat blurred.…”

Brave New World: Eugenics, Discipline Formation, and the Biosocial

“…For STS scholars, the biosocial -perhaps most often represented through a discussion of epigenetics -has been omnipresent in 2016, underpinning special editions of core sociology (Meloni et al 2016) and cultural theory (Blackman 2016) journals and high profile pronouncements about the need for novel forms of biopolitical resistance (Malabou 2016). Furthermore, and like Donald Trump, support of the biosocial within the social sciences and humanities has been divisive, met in some quarters with a distinctly fierce form of criticism (Gillies et al 2016). …”