Talking About the Gene for Cancer

A Study of Lay and Professional Knowledge of Cancer Genetics

Bibliographic Data

ID2321729
AuthorsL Prior (0000-0001-9903-5841, Queen's University Belfast, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume41
Issue6
Pages985-1001
Publication date2007-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0385 • E-ISSN: 1469-8684
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0038038507082311
OpenAlexW2171338009
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited22

This article is concerned with the ways in which people who work in and use a cancer genetics clinic in the UK talk about the 'gene for cancer'. By conceptualizing such a gene as a boundary object, and using empirical data derived from clinic consultations, observations in a genetics laboratory and interviews with patients, the author seeks to illustrate how the various parties involved adopt different discursive strategies to appropriate, describe and understand what is apparently the 'same' thing.The consequent focus on the ways in which the rhetorical and syntactical features of lay and professional talk interlink and diverge illustrates not merely how our contemporary knowledge of genes and genetics is structured, but also how different publics position themselves with respect to the biochemistry of life

Biology · Epistemology · Focus (optics) · Gene · Human genetics · Object (grammar) · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Biomedical Text Mining and Ontologies · Biotechnology and Related Fields · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Genetics · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub