Playing God?- Cultural Change and the Ethics of Human Genetic Engineering

小行星9701966 近年来，社会学对社会文化变革的研究出现了复兴，例如以牺牲集体主义为代价的个人主义的增加（例如，Bellah等人，1985年）和人们使用的人为中心的有神论合法化为他们的行动（例如，Hunter 1991）。 然而，在这些研究中，全社会层面的分析，宏观层面的解释，以及缺乏对过去和现在文化的可比性测量，阻碍了对文化变革过程的深入理解。 本博士论文研究通过研究一个有限的公共问题-关于人类基因改造的适当性的辩论，探讨了这种更广泛的文化变革的微观基础。 主要数据来自对1958年至今关于这一主题的印刷辩论的系统研究。 具体来说，所有的书籍，书籍章节，并在这个问题上产生的文章的样本将使用引文研究方法进行分析。 在这种方法中，引用之间的模式（或原始实例数）被用来评估关于知识构建的假设。 将通过采访在特定时期被引用最多的书籍和文章的作者来收集更多的信息。 最后，将对两个委员会进行案例研究，一个是国家委员会（总统委员会），另一个是志愿部门（联合卫理公会），这两个委员会有权讨论这一问题。通过研究基因工程辩论中的变化，这项研究将增加我们对更广泛的社会变革过程的理解。 ****

9701966 Wuthnow In recent years there has been a renaissance in the sociological examination of cultural changes in society such as the increase in individualism at the expense of collectivism (e.g., Bellah et al., 1985) and in people's use of human centered over theistic legitimization for their actions (e.g., Hunter 1991). However, in these studies society-wide level of analyses, macro-level explanations, and lack of comparable measurements of the past and present culture prevent deeper understanding of the processes underlying cultural change. This Doctoral Dissertation research investigates the micro-foundations of this broader cultural change through examining one limited public issue --the debates about the propriety of the genetic modifications of humans. The primary data are from a systematic study of the printed debates on this topic from 1958 to present. Specifically, a sample of all books, book chapters, and articles produced on this subject will be analyzed using the citation study method. In this method patterns (or raw numbers of instances) among citations are used to evaluate hypotheses about the construction of knowledge. Additional information will be collected through interviews with writers of books and articles that are most cited during specific time periods. Lastly, case studies will be done on two commissions, one state created (The President's Commission) and one voluntary sector created (The United Methodist Church), that were empowered to discuss this issue. Through examining changes in the debate on genetic engineering, this research will increase our understanding of the processes involved in broader social change. ****