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Product details:
- Publisher OUP Oxford
- Date of Publication 24 August 2017
- ISBN 9780198790457
- Binding Paperback
- No. of pages176 pages
- Size 174x124x9 mm
- Weight 132 g
- Language English
- Illustrations 23 black and white images 0
Categories
Short description:
John Waller describes the changing ideas concerning heredity from antiquity to the modern biological understanding, considering both the efforts over the centuries to identify the physiological mechanisms involved and how views of heredity have been used to justify or condemn inequalities of class, gender, and race.
MoreLong description:
The concept of heredity is fundamental to how we see ourselves and others. It goes far beyond the obvious continuity of physical traits across generations. We routinely ascribe similarities in personality, intellect, outlook, and aptitude between family members to what's passed down in sperm and eggs. The simple idea that children take after their ancestors has long been central to science and medicine and to the breeding of plants and animals. It has also been used for ideological purposes to impute innate differences in character and rationality between males and females and among different ethnicities and social classes. Slavery, colonialism, and genocide, the unequal treatment of women, and the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of the few have been consistently rationalized in the language of heredity and 'natural' hierarchy.
In this Very Short Introduction John Waller traces the diverse ideas about biological inheritance expressed by Europeans and their colonial descendants during two millennia of human history. He charts the changing ways in which scholars and laypersons have believed heredity to work, the development of spurious and self-serving beliefs about heredity by dominant groups, the recent revolution in our ability to understand the mechanics of heredity, and the difficult dilemmas our species is likely to face as we gain increasing mastery over the contents of our own genomes.
ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
A terrific study that interlaces the science with stimulating discussions about the ways in which hereditarian ideas once played out in eugenics, slavery, IQ and gender relations, including the ethical dilemmas of modern medical research.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Heredity in antiquity
Ideas of heredity in Medieval Europe, 500AD-1450AD
Heredity in the early modern world, 1450-1700
Heredity in the Enlightenment
Heredity in the nineteenth century
The discovery of the gene
The rise and rise of medical genetics
Uncertain progress: race, class and gender, 1900-2016
References
Further Reading
Index
