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Culture, Technologies and Bodies

The Technological Utopia of Living Forever

Bibliographic Data

ID3717485
AuthorsB Turner (0000-0001-6378-7144, corresponding author), Bryan S Turner
Year2007
Volume55
Issue1_suppl
Pages19-36
Publication date2007-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-954x.2007.00690.x
OpenAlexW2150437109
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited9

There are two parts to my discussion of the sociology of the body. I first examine, via an account of the development of anthropology and sociology, how technology and culture have historically been analysed as mediations between the scarcity of natural resources and the vulnerable human body. Technology has been crucial in providing societies with some control or dominion over nature, including therefore control over the human body, yet is often thought to involve hubris against the gods and a threat to human life. Culture, in contrast, has more usually been seen as nurturing nature, providing humans with a symbolic means of mediating and domesticating their external physical environment. Whereas culture nurtures nature, technology can so easily destroy it. In the second part of my article, I demonstrate how these conceptual distinctions have assumed new dimensions in the contemporary era and analyse these by focusing on the implications of medical technologies for longevity (for example, therapeutic stem-cell research, regenerative medicine, and new reproductive technologies). Medical technology holds out the promise of prolongevity as a new mirage of health, offering life-enhancement or the secular promise of eternal life

Aesthetics · Biology · Biomedical technology · Dominion · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Hubris · Human body · Political science · Scarcity · Sociology · Utopia · History · Law · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Philosophy

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Unique citing works9
Citations per year0,5
Citation span2008 - 2021 (14)
Citation velocityhistorical
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 5

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