Crafting Science : A Sociohistory of the Quest for the Genetics of Cancer / Joan H. Fujimura.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fujimura, Joan H., Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cancer--Genetic aspects--Research--History.

MEDICAL / Oncology.

Medical anthropology.

SCIENCE / History.

SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Genetics & Genomics.

Local Subjects:

Cancer--Genetic aspects--Research--History.

MEDICAL / Oncology.

Medical anthropology.

SCIENCE / History.

SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Genetics & Genomics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (322 p.)

Edition:

Reprint 2014

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

During the late 1970s and 1980s, "cancer" underwent a remarkable transformation. In one short decade, what had long been a set of heterogeneous diseases marked by uncontrolled cell growth became a disease of our genes. How this happened and what it means is the story Joan Fujimura tells in a rare inside look at the way science works and knowledge is created. A dramatic study of a new species of scientific revolution, this book combines a detailed ethnography of scientific thought, an in-depth account of science practiced and produced, a history of one branch of science as it entered the limelight, and a view of the impact of new genetic technologies on science and society. The scientific enterprise that Fujimura unfolds for us is proto-oncogene cancer research--the study of those segments of DNA now thought to make normal cells cancerous. Within this framework, she describes the processes of knowledge construction as a social enterprise, an endless series of negotiations in which theories, material technologies, and practices are co-constructed, incorporated, and refashioned. Along the way, Fujimura addresses long-standing questions in the history and philosophy of science, culture theory, and sociology of science: How do scientists create "good" problems, experiments, and solutions? What are the cultural, institutional, and material technologies that have to be in place for new truths and new practices to succeed? Portraying the development of knowledge as a multidimensional process conducted through multiple cultures, institutions, actors, objects, and practices, this book disrupts divisions among sociology, history, anthropology, and the philosophy of science, technology, and medicine.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Creating a New Realm

Tools of the Trade: A Brief History of Standardized Experimental Systems in Cancer Research, 1920-1978

Molecular Genetic Technologies: The New Tools of the Trade

Crafting Theory

Distributing Authority and Transforming Biology

Problems and Work Practices: Improvising on the Shop Floor

The Articulation of Doable Problems in Cancer Research

Conclusion: Crafting Oncogenes

Appendix: Social and Cultural Studies of Science

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 21. Dez 2019)

ISBN:

0-674-33287-3

OCLC:

1013941759