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‘Wicked’ ethics: Compliance work and the practice of ethics in HIV research

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  • Heimer, Carol A.

Abstract

Using ethnographic material collected between 2003 and 2007 in five HIV clinics in the US, South Africa, Uganda, and Thailand, this article examines “official ethics” and “ethics on the ground.” It compares the ethical conundrums clinic staff and researchers confront in their daily work as HIV researchers with the dilemmas officially identified as ethical issues by bioethicists and people responsible for ethics reviews and compliance with ethics regulations. The tangled relation between ethical problems and solutions invites a comparison to Rittel and Webber's “wicked problems.” Official ethics' attempts to produce universal solutions often make ethics problems even more wickedly intractable. Ethics on the ground is in part a reaction to this intractability.

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  • Heimer, Carol A., 2013. "‘Wicked’ ethics: Compliance work and the practice of ethics in HIV research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 371-378.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:98:y:2013:i:c:p:371-378
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.10.030
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Benatar, S. R., 2002. "Reflections and recommendations on research ethics in developing countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(7), pages 1131-1141, April.
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    3. Molyneux, Sassy & Geissler, P. Wenzel, 2008. "Ethics and the ethnography of medical research in Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 685-695, September.
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    5. Fassin, Didier, 2008. "The elementary forms of care: An empirical approach to ethics in a South African Hospital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 262-270, July.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Joseph Harris & Jonathan D. Shaffer, 2022. "Comparing disciplinary engagement in global health research across the social sciences," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(2), pages 439-454, March.
    3. Harri Raisio & Pirkko Vartiainen, 2015. "Accelerating the public’s learning curve on wicked policy issues: results from deliberative forums on euthanasia," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 48(3), pages 339-361, September.

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