Table of Contents

Notes on the Contributors Introduction: Biotechnology, Uncertainty and Contestation; P.O'Mahony PART ONE: THEORETICAL REFLECTIONS ON BIOTECHNOLOGY AND RESPONSIBILITY The Civilisation of the Gene: Biotechnological Risk Framed in the Responsibility Discourse; P.Strydom Biopolitics in the Risk Society: The Possibility of a Global Ethic of Societal Responsibility; G.Delanty Biotechnology as Expertise; B.Barnes PART TWO: CONSTRUCTING VALUES: PUBLIC COMMUNICATION ON BIOTECHNOLOGY Shifting Debates on New Reproductive Technology: Implications for Public Discourse in Ireland; O.McDonnell Biotechnological Communication and the Socio-Cultural Embeddedness of Economic Actors; M.Dreyer Constructing Difference: Discourse Coalitions on Biotechnology in the Press; P.O'Mahony and T.Skillington PART THREE: THE DYNAMICS OF INSTITUTIONALISATION: JURIDIFICATION AND REGULATION OF BIOTECHNOLOGY Public Representation and the Legal Regulation of Assisted Conception in Britain; J.Murphy Discourse Formations and Constellations of Conflict: Problems of Public Participation in the German Debate on Genetically Altered Plants; A.Bora Law and the Cultural Construction of Nature: The Biotechnology Issue; C.Byk Bio-Patenting and Innovation: Nomads of the Present and a New Global Order; R.McNally and Peter Wheale Concluding Reflections Modernity's Organic Economy of Governmentality; T.Skillington Notes Bibliography Index Acknowledgements

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Patrick O'Mahony is joint author with Gerard Delanty of "Rethinking Irish History: Nationalism, Identity and Ideology" and has written numerous articles and reports on the sociology and politics of nature.

About the Author

BARRY BARNES Professor of Sociology, University of Exeter ALFONS BORA Research Fellow, Wissenschaft Zentrum, Berlin CHRISTIAN BYK Secretary, International Association of Law, Ethics and Science GERARD DELANTY Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Liverpool MARION DREYER Senior Researcher, Munich ProjektGruppe ORLA MCDONNELL Lecturer in Sociology, University College, Cork RUTH MCNALLY Research Fellow, University of Exeter and Director of BioInformation Ltd JOHN MURPHY Lecturer in Law, Manchester University TRACEY SKILLINGTON Senior Researcher, Centre for European Social Research, Cork PIET STRYDOM Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University College, Cork PETER WHEALE Surrey Management School and Director of BioInformation Ltd