Lay understandings of the relationship between race and genetics: Development of a collectivized knowledge through shared discourse

Abstract

Throughout the past century, research into human genetics revealed the relationships between biochemistry and various human characteristics in increasing detail. At each step of this path of discovery, social critics warned that knowledge of genetics, and especially social attention to genetics, might heighten racist attitudes. In light of these warnings and the recent sequencing of the Human Genome, it is important to inquire into the interpretations laypersons might hold of the relationship between race and genetics. A variety of recent efforts have described the insufficiency of public opinion polls for arriving at sophisticated understandings of such complex attitudinal structures. Therefore, this essay offers a sketch of some lay understandings of race and genetics in the United States based on a series of focus group sessions. In order to interpret the responses, the analysis employs a novel template for interpreting focus group research based on the theoretical concept of rhetorical formations. This approach reveals the way in which the knowledge of individual members is brought to bear upon collective decision-making through the social process of discussion to produce a pool of information that is similar to expert knowledge, although phrased in a popular vocabulary. Differences in the ways in which cultural groups negotiate this knowledge are discussed.