Available From UC Press

For decades, the field of bioethics has shaped the way we think about ethical problems in science, technology, and medicine. But its traditional emphasis on individual interests such as doctor-patient relationships, informed consent, and personal autonomy is minimally helpful in confronting the social and political challenges posed by new human biotechnologies such as assisted reproduction, human genetic modification, and DNA forensics. Beyond Bioethics addresses these provocative issues from an emerging standpoint that is attentive to race, gender, class, disability, privacy, and notions of democracy—a "new biopolitics."

This authoritative volume provides an overview for those grappling with the profound dilemmas posed by these developments. It brings together the work of cutting-edge thinkers from diverse fields of study and public engagement, all of them committed to this new perspective grounded in social justice and public interest values.

Osagie K. Obasogie is Haas Distinguished Chair and Professor of Bioethics in the Joint Medical Program and School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Marcy Darnovsky is Executive Director of the Center for Genetics and Society, a public interest organization focused on human biotechnologies.

"Beyond Bioethics is a timely and important book that offers insightful and innovative ways to think about equality and representation in the field, while highlighting the attendant ethical obligations of scientists, clinicians, researchers, and scholars. This is essential reading!"—Kimani Paul-Emile, Associate Professor of Law and Associate Director, Center on Race, Law, and Justice, Fordham University School of Law

"Vividly capturing the technical and existential dimensions of the new biopolitics, this brilliantly edited volume is essential reading in the classroom, the boardroom, and even the courtroom. The editors pull together carefully curated historical, legal, scientific, and feminist scholarship to craft a cogent critique of the 'thin vision' of contemporary bioethics. They call for a new biopolitics that frames ethical questions in terms of social and political forces, values, and time. Collected essays illuminate with particular force how medical genetics, ancestry testing, genomics, and other enterprises oriented around DNA keep alive destructive ideas about biological race and positive eugenics. The book is a first effort to construct a coherent progressive vision for a new kind of bioethics, and it is a compelling contribution to debates that grow more important every week."—M. Susan Lindee, Janice and Julian Bers Professor of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania

"This book is a wonderful resource of diverse, insightful essays. It is particularly timely in the age of CRISPR and expanding direct-to-consumer genetic technologies as they intersect with assisted reproduction."—Paul S. Knoepfler, Professor of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy, University of California, Davis, School of Medicine

"Beyond Bioethics canvasses critical milestones in law, society, and biotechnology to share nuanced insights about class, politics, property, race, and ethics in how the human body is constructed, commodified, and theorized. It should be on the shelves of every scholar engaging in biotechnology, bioethics, and the law."—Michele Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine and author of Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts