Dangerous Diagnostics: The Social Power of Biological Information - Softcover

Nelkin, Dorothy; Tancredi, Laurence

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226571297 ISBN 13: 9780226571294

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1994

Synopsis

Dangerous Diagnostics is a powerful study of the pervasiveness of diagnostic testing and the potential it offers institutions to classify, categorize, and ultimately control individuals. Nelkin and Tancredi explore the ethical, social, and legal implications of cutting-edge technologies that can lead to new forms of discrimination in the name of standardized, objective measurements. They caution against the creation of an underclass deemed unemployable, untrainable, or uninsurable by such diagnostic tests.

About this title

From Library Journal

Sociologist Nelkin and law professor Tancredi ask the old question, "What are they keeping in our files?" about a panoply of new information that falls under the rubric of personal biochemistry, including genetic testing, brain chemistry studies, and hereditary predisposition to conditions such as heart disease. The authors say that medical test results are finding their way into personnel files, school records, insurance company data banks, and courtrooms and are too incompletely understood, wrongly applied, or used for the wrong reasons. Particularly well-reasoned in its analysis of biological data in the courtroom, this book is slightly ahead of its time and should have a place in collections on the cutting edge of social issues. Well-documented, but, alas, no bibliography, just end notes.
- Mark L. Shelton, Columbus, Ohio
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0226571297
• ISBN 13: 9780226571294
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232