Summary
Contents
Are human beings less violent than before? Why do we adopt certain moral and political judgements? Why is the gap between rich and poor getting bigger? How do we decide which criminal policies are effective? What is the Population Challenge for the 21st Century? What is social science? In Big Ideas in Social Science, David Edmonds and Nigel Warburton put these and more of our society’s burning questions to 18 of the world’s leading social scientists including Steven Pinker, Ann Oakley, Lawrence Sherman, Kate Pickett, Robert J. Shiller and Doreen Massey. The result is a collection of thought-provoking discussions that span the fields of sociology, politics, economics, criminology, geography and many more. From the people who brought us the Philosophy Bites series, Big Ideas in Social Science is a fascinating and accessible introduction to the key ideas and findings of the social sciences. The interviews for this book are based on a series of podcasts, Social Science Bites, sponsored by SAGE. Social Science Bites was inspired by the popular Philosophy Bites podcast (www.philosophybites.com), which was founded by David and Nigel in 2007 and has so far had 26 million downloads. Philosophy Bites has spawned three books, Philosophy Bites, Philosophy Bites Back and Philosophy Bites Again.
SARAH FRANKLIN ON THE SOCIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY
SARAH FRANKLIN ON THE SOCIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Sarah Franklin is a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator and holds the Chair of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, where she leads the Reproductive Sociology Research Group (ReproSoc). She is a Fellow of Christ’s College.
David Edmonds: In the sci-fi movie Gattaca, potential children are carefully chosen using pre-implantation genetic analysis. The movie taps into fears about the futuristic uses of reproductive technology. These are similar concerns to those often stoked in the press when there’s a technological breakthrough such as the birth of the world’s most famous sheep, Dolly, who demonstrated the possibility of cloning. Since the 1950s, sociologists have focused attention on such ...
