Genomic Politics

In More Science, Less Fear?, Jennifer Hochschild shows how the fraught politics of genomics is unfolding in American life. She focuses on genetically modified medicines that target African Americans, DNA evidence in the criminal justice system, the ancestry craze, and genetic tests in prenatal exams. She finds that contending camps differ in how they answer two questions: How significant are genetic factors in explaining human traits and behaviors? And, what is the right balance between risk acceptance and risk avoidance? Hochschild develops solutions that can reduce the ideological heat and more closely align the use of genomics with democracy.