The Use of ‘Race’ as a Variable in Biomedical Research

Sophia Efstathiou
Philosophy and Science Studies
UC San Diego

This research unpacks a seeming paradox: a concept used to formulate, promote and legitimate oppressive ideologies, a concept used to formulate mistakes, because they were typological, biological theories about human diversity is, it seems, the same concept that now promises to deliver socially sensitized, innovative results in social and genetic epidemiology. But how could that be? How could scientists expect a concept as problematic as ordinary race to deliver useful scientific results? I propose that there is a process for retranslating Ballungen race concepts in appropriate ways to make them fit and work within social scientific and bio-scientific contexts.