Social genomics is a growing, interdisciplinary research effort that correlates genetic data with social phenomena such as educational attainment and wealth. Its growth in recent decades, from sample sizes of hundreds to millions, relies on mobilizing genetic and phenotypic data from government, academic, and corporate platforms; these data were usually originally collected for other purposes, including biomedicine and genealogy.
This talk examines the data-sharing choices made by actors in and around social genomics, and argues that these choices—with whom to share data, and how—are an important mechanism by which the scientific and ethical values of social science genomics are enacted. Many of the decisions so-made function to manage controversy. By this I mean both (1) that they help to bound acceptable positions that scientists using these data can take on controversial matters and also (2) that they function to de-escalate/reduce the temperature of potential public controversies, without resolving them.
This talk addresses the philosophy of open science by pointing to a situation where openness is a desideratum, but is in potential conflict with other scientific and ethical values. It also adds to the literature on how interdisciplinary scientific communities constitute themselves by examining data sharing infrastructure not only as a technical foundation that makes research possible, but as a social process by which scientific and ethical values are negotiated.
Suggested readings/talks:
- Jason Fletcher, “A Progress Report on Social Genomics” (October 15, 2024 Holtz Center lunch seminar)
- Aaron Panofsky, “From Behavior Genetics to Social Genomics” (In Stevens & Richardson, Eds. Postgenomics [Duke U. Press, 2015])
- Sabina Leonelli, “Rethinking the Philosophy of Open Science” (In Leonelli, Philosophy of Open Science [Cambridge, 2023])