Geneticization is a term that has been widely used by critics of genetic medicine since the early 1990s. Originally coined by Abby Lippman in a series of three papers published in the 1990s (specifically in 1991, 1992, and 1994), geneticization refers to the increasing tendency to define differences between individuals as largely or entirely due to

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

. This includes the growing framing and understanding of human diseases and behaviors in genetic terms. Henk A. M. J. ten Have has defined geneticization as "...a

heuristic A heuristic or heuristic technique (''problem solving'', '' mental shortcut'', ''rule of thumb'') is any approach to problem solving that employs a pragmatic method that is not fully optimized, perfected, or rationalized, but is nevertheless ...

tool that can help to re-focus the moral debate on the implications of new genetic knowledge towards interpersonal relations, the power of medicine, the cultural context and social constraints, rather than emphasizing issues as personal autonomy and individual rights." It is common for social scientists and bioethicists to argue that geneticization leads to a growing belief in

genetic determinism Biological determinism, also known as genetic determinism, is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, wheth ...

and

essentialism Essentialism is the view that objects have a set of attributes that are necessary to their Identity (philosophy), identity. In early Western thought, Platonic idealism held that all things have such an "essence"—an Theory of forms, "idea" or "f ...

in the general public, and that this, in turn, increases

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

, stigma, and

inequality Inequality may refer to: * Inequality (mathematics), a relation between two quantities when they are different. * Economic inequality, difference in economic well-being between population groups ** Income inequality, an unequal distribution of i ...

. When Lippman originally coined the term "geneticization", for example, she was concerned about the potential for geneticization to increase public belief in biological essentialism, thereby reinforcing racism and discrimination against people with

disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

. Some proponents of the heuristic of geneticization also argue that the media's coverage of genetics contributes to geneticization. However, the empirical evidence on the link between geneticization and genetic determinism, and between genetic determinism, discrimination and inequality, is ambiguous, suggesting that the phenomenon of geneticization may not always follow the simple pattern that proponents of the concept ascribe to it.

References

Further reading