Aaron Panofsky

Last updated
Aaron Panofsky
NationalityAmerican
Education Amherst College (B.A., 1996)
New York University (M.A., 2002; Ph.D., 2006)
Known for Sociology of scientific knowledge
Awards2015 President’s Book Award from the Social Science History Association (for Misbehaving Science )
Scientific career
Fields Sociology
Institutions University of California, Los Angeles
Thesis Fielding controversy: The genesis and structure of behavior genetics  (2006)
Doctoral advisors Troy Duster
Craig Calhoun

Aaron Leon Panofsky is an American sociologist of science and Professor in Public Policy and the Institute for Society and Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles. [1] His research focuses on the social implications and history of genetics. [2]

Contents

Work

Panofsky's 2014 book, Misbehaving Science , explores the historical development and controversies of behavior genetics. [3] The book won the 2015 President’s Book Award from the Social Science History Association. [4]

Panofsky also attracted media attention for a study he presented at an American Sociological Association meeting in 2017. The study analyzed 3,070 posts on the white nationalist Internet forum Stormfront in which posters described the results of their genetic ancestry tests. The study identified three distinct ways in which the white supremacists whose tests identified non-European ancestry dismissed and rationalized their results. [5] [6] One of these ways was to accuse the genetic testing companies of being run by Jews, who some white supremacists accused of engaging in a conspiracy to fraudulently manipulate the white supremacists' test results. [7]

Related Research Articles

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Arthur Robert Jensen was an American psychologist and writer. He was a professor of educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Jensen was known for his work in psychometrics and differential psychology, the study of how and why individuals differ behaviorally from one another.

Discussions of race and intelligence – specifically, claims of differences in intelligence along racial lines – have appeared in both popular science and academic research since the modern concept of race was first introduced. With the inception of IQ testing in the early 20th century, differences in average test performance between racial groups were observed, though these differences have fluctuated and in many cases steadily decreased over time. Complicating the issue, modern science has shown race to be a socially constructed phenomenon rather than a biological reality, and there are various conflicting definitions of intelligence. In particular, the validity of IQ testing as a metric for human intelligence is disputed. Today, the scientific consensus is that genetics does not explain differences in IQ test performance between groups, and that observed differences are environmental in origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genetic testing</span> Medical test

Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or through biochemical analysis to measure specific protein output. In a medical setting, genetic testing can be used to diagnose or rule out suspected genetic disorders, predict risks for specific conditions, or gain information that can be used to customize medical treatments based on an individual's genetic makeup. Genetic testing can also be used to determine biological relatives, such as a child's biological parentage through DNA paternity testing, or be used to broadly predict an individual's ancestry. Genetic testing of plants and animals can be used for similar reasons as in humans, to gain information used for selective breeding, or for efforts to boost genetic diversity in endangered populations.

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Genetic discrimination occurs when people treat others differently because they have or are perceived to have a gene mutation(s) that causes or increases the risk of an inherited disorder. It may also refer to any and all discrimination based on the genotype of a person rather than their individual merits, including that related to race, although the latter would be more appropriately included under racial discrimination. Some legal scholars have argued for a more precise and broader definition of genetic discrimination: "Genetic discrimination should be defined as when an individual is subjected to negative treatment, not as a result of the individual's physical manifestation of disease or disability, but solely because of the individual's genetic composition." Genetic Discrimination is considered to have its foundations in genetic determinism and genetic essentialism, and is based on the concept of genism, i.e. distinctive human characteristics and capacities are determined by genes.

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<i>Misbehaving Science</i>

Misbehaving Science: Controversy and the Development of Behavior Genetics is a 2014 book about the history of behavior genetics. It was written by University of California, Los Angeles sociologist Aaron Panofsky, and was published by the University of Chicago Press. It won the 2015 President's Book Award from the Social Science History Association.

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References

  1. "Aaron Panofsky". UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
  2. "Aaron Panofsky". The UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  3. "Aaron Panofsky Explores Controversies in "Misbehaving Science"". UCLA Luskin. 2015-04-29. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  4. "President's Book Award". Social Science History Association. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  5. "How white supremacists respond when their DNA says they're not 'white'". PBS NewsHour. 2017-08-20. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  6. Zhang, Sarah (2017-08-17). "When White Nationalists Get DNA Tests That Reveal African Ancestry". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  7. Suerth, Jessica (2017-08-18). "White nationalists use genetic tests for 'racial purity,' study finds". CNN. Retrieved 2018-06-28.