Fixing Inequality in the Biosocial Era

• In Event: Disrupting Racial Formations in Science and Technology (Co-sponsored by Race and Ethnic Minorities Section)

Abstract

Using scholarly publications on environmental exposures, including lead exposure, exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), prenatal drug, alcohol, and tobacco exposure, and more, I argue that today’s literatures of environmental exposures, as part of a larger biosocial research turn, come with a significant risk of naturalizing inequality, fostering environmentally driven racial essentialism and determinism, and obstructing the solutions and interventions authors often propose. I conclude by endorsing an alternative approach for researchers, one that goes beyond documenting damage and challenges existing practices of knowledge production in social science research.

Author

• Margaret Schmits-Earley, University of Wisconsin-Madison