The Use (and Misuse) of Genetic Data in Understanding Social Identities

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

This roundtable aims to encourage conversations between and among political scientists and other scientists on the use of genetic data in understanding social identities, including race, national identity, gender, etc. On the one hand, biological data and genetic factors are increasingly considered in explanations not only of health outcomes, but also in political behavioral outcomes. On the other hand, the discussion of the connection between genetics and race or other social identities remains fraught with misunderstanding. The fear of association with eugenics or discredited race science may be one reason that social scientists working on social identities have often steered clear of genetics. Yet, biological data, including genetic markers, are increasingly part of individual identity and links to group identity and ancestry. Moreover, genetic identity is increasingly part of governance and public policy (home DNA tests not only tell individuals what groups they belong to, but are used for documentation related to immigration applications), and is politicized (e.g. Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test for Native American ancestry).

This panel brings together political scientists working on social identities to talk about how genetic data can be or is being used to understand social identities. Participants in this panel all are scholars who either work on social identities or genetics or both. This panel aims to take up questions such as 1) what is the connection between genetics and race or other group identities; 2) what are ways that racial or groups classification based on genetics can be linked to health outcomes or political behavioral outcomes; 3) what are the practical and ethical concerns in using biological data (including both biometrics and genetics) to classify populations (both citizens and migrants); 4) how might group recognition policies be affected by the use of either biometric or genetic tests or both to establish individual identities; 5) how might political elites use genetic testing and genetic identity to shape public opinion/political behavior; and 6) how might genetic testing affect how existing identity groups think about their formal or informal membership rules?

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 5: Political Psychology

Chair

• Kanchan Chandra New York University

Presenters

• Yoshiko M. Herrera University of Wisconsin, Madison

• Jennifer L. Hochschild Harvard University

• Rose McDermott Brown University

• Melina Raquel Platas Izama NYU Abu Dhabi

• Elizabeth Suhay Government, American University

• Cara Wong University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign