Transforming Altruism Into Solidarity? The Case Of Experimental Subjects In Psoriasis Research In Germany

• In Event: Producing Transformations: Drugs, Bodies, and Experimentation 3

Abstract

That experimental subjects and tissue donors in biocapitalism act out of a thoroughly altruistic motivation, out of mere selflessness, has been, and still is, a powerful narrative that is constantly revived by various actors involved in biomedical research. STS approaches are challenging this notion, pointing to its conceptual shortcomings and/or critiquing its social consequences, e.g. the creation and securing of access to a massive unpaid labour force for biomedical innovation. In a conceptual, governance-oriented line of critique, Barbara Prainsack and Alena Buyx (2016) advocate for solidarity as a tool for analysis and a normative point of reference in biomedical practice today.

The paper takes up findings from a case study involving experimental subjects and medical personnel in psoriasis research in Germany and discusses the following questions: Do altruistic motives matter in experimental subjects’ accounts? Would these matters more accurately be described by introducing the concept of solidarity? And if so: Solidarity with whom? Which pitfalls and critical potentials do or do not unfold within the process of such a reinterpretation? And how is the figure of the experimental subject herself transformed?

Author

• Laura Schnieder, Goethe-Universität