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book: The Genome Factor
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The Genome Factor

What the Social Genomics Revolution Reveals about Ourselves, Our History, and the Future
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Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2017

About this book

How genomics is revolutionizing the social sciences

For a century, social scientists have avoided genetics like the plague. But the nature-nurture wars are over. In the past decade, a small but intrepid group of economists, political scientists, and sociologists have harnessed the genomics revolution to paint a more complete picture of human social life than ever before. The Genome Factor describes the latest astonishing discoveries being made at the scientific frontier where genomics and the social sciences intersect.

The Genome Factor reveals that there are real genetic differences by racial ancestry—but ones that don't conform to what we call black, white, or Latino. Genes explain a significant share of who gets ahead in society and who does not, but instead of giving rise to a genotocracy, genes often act as engines of mobility that counter social disadvantage. An increasing number of us are marrying partners with similar education levels as ourselves, but genetically speaking, humans are mixing it up more than ever before with respect to mating and reproduction. These are just a few of the many findings presented in this illuminating and entertaining book, which also tackles controversial topics such as genetically personalized education and the future of reproduction in a world where more and more of us are taking advantage of cheap genotyping services like 23andMe to find out what our genes may hold in store for ourselves and our children.

The Genome Factor shows how genomics is transforming the social sciences—and how social scientists are integrating both nature and nurture into a unified, comprehensive understanding of human behavior at both the individual and society-wide levels.

Author / Editor information

Dalton Conley is the Henry Putnam University Professor of Sociology at Princeton University. His many books include Parentology: Everything You Wanted to Know about the Science of Raising Children but Were Too Exhausted to Ask. He lives in New York City. Jason Fletcher is Professor of Public Affairs, Sociology, Agricultural and Applied Economics, and Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He lives in Madison.

Reviews

"An excellent primer. . . . Conley and Fletcher have a clear, engaging writing style, use metaphors very effectively, and are able to explain complex concepts and methodologies in a way that is comprehensible to non-experts, without losing vital content."---Edward Bell, Journal of Politics and Life Sciences --- "A fresh look at the nature vs. nurture debate. . . . Illuminating." --- "Too often, the debate over the ethics of genomics takes place behind closed doors--among scientists, doctors and government officials. Members of the general public are left out or treated as an afterthought rather than placed at the center of the conversation. Scientific research is crucial, but the moral dilemmas raised by The Genome Factor belong to us all."---Amy Dockser Marcus, Wall Street Journal --- "Winner of the 2018 Otis Dudley Duncan Award, Section on Population of the American Sociological Association" --- "Co-Winner of the 2018 Best Book Award, Evolution, Biology, and Society Section, American Sociological Association"

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    v
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    Acknowledgments

    vii
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    Chapter 1. Molecular Me: Welcome to the Coming Social Genomics Revolution

    1
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    Chapter 2. The Durability of Heritability: Genes and Inequality

    12
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    Chapter 3. If Heritability Is So High, Why Can’t We Find It?

    35
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    Chapter 4. Genetic Sorting and Cavorting in American Society

    60
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    Chapter 5. Is Race Genetic? A New Take on the Most Fraught, Distracting, and Nonsensical Question in the World

    84
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    Chapter 6. The Wealth of Nations: Something in Our Genes?

    113
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    Chapter 7. The Environment Strikes Back: The Promise and Perils of Personalized Policy

    136
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    Conclusion: Whither Genotocracy?

    170
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    Epilogue: Genotocracy Rising, 2117

    188
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    Appendix 1

    196
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    Appendix 2

    200
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    Appendix 3

    204
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    Appendix 4

    209
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    Appendix 5

    219
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    Appendix 6

    225
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    Notes

    233
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    Index

    277
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
March 6, 2017
eBook ISBN:
9781400883240
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
View content
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400883240
eBook ISBN: 9781400883240
Keywords for this book
Heritability; Genotype; Polygenic score; Sibling; Allele; Genetic diversity; Chromosome; Social science; Assortative mating; Phenotype; Twin; African Americans; Gene; Scientist; Geneticist; The Bell Curve; Sociology; Genetic architecture; Income; Biology; Demography; Population stratification; Race (human categorization); Coefficient of relationship; Population genetics; Protein; Genetic analysis; Socioeconomic status; Disease; Nature versus nurture; Symptom; Technology; Shoaling and schooling; Candidate gene; Human skin color; Breast cancer; Year; Racism; Embryo; Human genome; Sperm; Sampling (statistics); Gene–environment interaction; Economic development; Spouse; Environmental factor; Genotyping; Epigenetics; Behavioural genetics; Epistasis; Meiosis; Meritocracy; Probability; Estimation; Portion; Result; Meta-analysis; Birth weight; Genetic drift; Eugenics; Prediction; Eye color; Genomics; Genetic testing; Natural experiment; Human behavior; Fertility; Whole genome sequencing; Birth cohort; Obesity
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
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