"Value Practices in the Life Sciences" : Working Towards an Sts Agenda

• Our aim is to propose and elaborate a vantage point that focuses on how different values in the life sciences are enacted in actions, in technical practices, and in practices of valuation. Looking at how such ’value practices’ enact values provides a route to investigate the entwinement and conflict of diverse values, be they economic, moral, legal, etc. This overall theoretical starting point represents a pragmatist understanding of values which distinguishes it from the main strands of research in the area, centring around the notions of “moral economy” and “biocapital”.  Our theoretical agenda entails articulating a framework for examining ‘values in practice’ that draws on work from science and technology studies more widely. Methodologically and theoretically, we (and all authors in this volume) address value practices, i.e. practices of producing, negotiating, settling values of different kinds in the life sciences.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)