(Re)Defining disability in the ‘genetic age’: behavioral genetics, ‘new’ eugenics and the future of impairment

Abstract

In this article I explore the intersections among behavioral genetics, ‘new’ eugenics, and disability and their implications for future conceptualizations of impairment and its perceived role in socially deviant behavior and societal ‘reform’. Critics from a number of different backgrounds have pointed out the shortcomings of behavioral genetics, most notably that it has not yielded any meaningful findings. Missing from most discussions, however, is a critical assessment of the degree to which genetic research remains reliant upon socially constructed notions of impairment. In this article I offer an initial foray into this often neglected thread in an otherwise powerful critique of behavioral genetics. I contend that any future discussions of the intersection of behavioral genetics, ‘new’ eugenics and disability must contain a critical analysis of the psychiatric and psychological ‘disorders’, ‘defects’, ‘illnesses’ and ‘conditions’ at the center of most research programs.

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