IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v661y2015i1p24-50.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Great Is Their Sin

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph L. Graves Jr.

Abstract

The roots of biological determinism are ancient. Yet despite advances in biological science in the twentieth century, determinist thinking has not been eliminated. This article reviews the history of biological determinism, examining its varieties from its creationist beginnings to present-day biological thinking in the age of genomics. It elucidates the relationship between biological determinism and racialist understandings of human genetic variation. Of particular importance in this regard are the ongoing claims of racial medicine (a modern biological determinist variety) as well as resurgent attempts to classify humans into biological races utilizing genomic data and clustering algorithms (such as STRUCTURE). Finally it presents how the complexity of biological variation generated by genetic, epigenetic, environmental, and chance effects vitiates simplistic biological determinism.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph L. Graves Jr., 2015. "Great Is Their Sin," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 661(1), pages 24-50, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:661:y:2015:i:1:p:24-50
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716215586558
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716215586558
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716215586558?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zachary D. Smith & Michelle M. Chan & Tarjei S. Mikkelsen & Hongcang Gu & Andreas Gnirke & Aviv Regev & Alexander Meissner, 2012. "A unique regulatory phase of DNA methylation in the early mammalian embryo," Nature, Nature, vol. 484(7394), pages 339-344, April.
    2. Caroline M Nievergelt & Ondrej Libiger & Nicholas J Schork, 2007. "Generalized Analysis of Molecular Variance," PLOS Genetics, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(4), pages 1-12, April.
    3. Stephanie T Broyles & Amanda E Staiano & Kathryn T Drazba & Alok K Gupta & Melinda Sothern & Peter T Katzmarzyk, 2012. "Elevated C-Reactive Protein in Children from Risky Neighborhoods: Evidence for a Stress Pathway Linking Neighborhoods and Inflammation in Children," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(9), pages 1-8, September.
    4. Lee, Catherine, 2009. ""Race" and "ethnicity" in biomedical research: How do scientists construct and explain differences in health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1183-1190, March.
    5. Molly K. Burke & Joseph P. Dunham & Parvin Shahrestani & Kevin R. Thornton & Michael R. Rose & Anthony D. Long, 2010. "Genome-wide analysis of a long-term evolution experiment with Drosophila," Nature, Nature, vol. 467(7315), pages 587-590, September.
    6. Olden, K. & Lin, Y.-S. & Gruber, D. & Sonawane, B., 2014. "Epigenome: Biosensor of cumulative exposure to chemical and nonchemical stressors related to environmental justice," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(10), pages 1816-1821.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bolte, Gabriele, 2018. "Epidemiologische Methoden und Erkenntnisse als eine Grundlage für Stadtplanung und gesundheitsfördernde Stadtentwicklung," Forschungsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Baumgart, Sabine & Köckler, Heike & Ritzinger, Anne & Rüdiger, Andrea (ed.), Planung für gesundheitsfördernde Städte, volume 8, pages 118-134, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    2. Wenwen Li & Ann Van Soom & Luc Peelman, 2017. "Repeats as global DNA methylation marker in bovine preimplantation embryos," Czech Journal of Animal Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 62(2), pages 43-50.
    3. Proctor, Alana & Krumeich, Anja & Meershoek, Agnes, 2011. "Making a difference: The construction of ethnicity in HIV and STI epidemiological research by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(11), pages 1838-1845, June.
    4. Allegra Angeloni & Skye Fissette & Deniz Kaya & Jillian M. Hammond & Hasindu Gamaarachchi & Ira W. Deveson & Robert J. Klose & Weiming Li & Xiaotian Zhang & Ozren Bogdanovic, 2024. "Extensive DNA methylome rearrangement during early lamprey embryogenesis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Ariane Lismer & Sarah Kimmins, 2023. "Emerging evidence that the mammalian sperm epigenome serves as a template for embryo development," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-22, December.
    6. Joe, Sean & Banks, Andrae & Belue, Rhonda, 2016. "Suicide risk among urban children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 73-79.
    7. Kristi Pullen Fedinick & Ilch Yiliqi & Yukyan Lam & David Lennett & Veena Singla & Miriam Rotkin-Ellman & Jennifer Sass, 2021. "A Cumulative Framework for Identifying Overburdened Populations under the Toxic Substances Control Act: Formaldehyde Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-13, June.
    8. Gemma E. Shields & Mark Wilberforce & Paul Clarkson & Tracey Farragher & Arpana Verma & Linda M. Davies, 2022. "Factors Limiting Subgroup Analysis in Cost-Effectiveness Analysis and a Call for Transparency," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 149-156, February.
    9. David B. Stern & Nathan W. Anderson & Juanita A. Diaz & Carol Eunmi Lee, 2022. "Genome-wide signatures of synergistic epistasis during parallel adaptation in a Baltic Sea copepod," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    10. Moghavvemi, Sedigheh & Ormond, Meghann & Musa, Ghazali & Mohamed Isa, Che Ruhana & Thirumoorthi, Thinaranjeney & Bin Mustapha, Mohd Zulkhairi & Kanapathy, Kanagi A./P. & Chiremel Chandy, Jacob John, 2017. "Connecting with prospective medical tourists online: A cross-sectional analysis of private hospital websites promoting medical tourism in India, Malaysia and Thailand," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 154-163.
    11. Andrea Lauria & Guohua Meng & Valentina Proserpio & Stefania Rapelli & Mara Maldotti & Isabelle Laurence Polignano & Francesca Anselmi & Danny Incarnato & Anna Krepelova & Daniela Donna & Chiara Levra, 2023. "DNMT3B supports meso-endoderm differentiation from mouse embryonic stem cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.
    12. Petteway, Ryan J. & Mujahid, Mahasin & Allen, Amani & Morello-Frosch, Rachel, 2019. "The body language of place: A new method for mapping intergenerational “geographies of embodiment” in place-health research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 51-63.
    13. Jiajun Tan & Yingfeng Li & Xiang Li & Xiaoxiao Zhu & Liping Liu & Hua Huang & Jiahua Wei & Hailing Wang & Yong Tian & Zhigao Wang & Zhuqiang Zhang & Bing Zhu, 2024. "Pramel15 facilitates zygotic nuclear DNMT1 degradation and DNA demethylation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Mellissa Marcus & Terence C. Burnham & David W. Stephens & Aimee S. Dunlap, 2018. "Experimental evolution of color preference for oviposition in Drosophila melanogaster," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 125-140, April.
    15. Man-Kit Lei & Ronald L. Simons, 2021. "The Association between Neighborhood Disorder and Health: Exploring the Moderating Role of Genotype and Marriage," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-23, January.
    16. Rondini, Ashley C. & Kowalsky, Rachel H., 2021. "“First do no harm”: Clinical practice guidelines, mesolevel structural racism, and medicine's epistemological reckoning," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    17. Bastos, Joao Luiz & Celeste, Roger Keller & Faerstein, Eduardo & Barros, Aluisio J.D., 2010. "Racial discrimination and health: A systematic review of scales with a focus on their psychometric properties," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1091-1099, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:661:y:2015:i:1:p:24-50. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.