The Cosmopolitanization of Science Stem Cell Governance in China

by Zhang, Joy Yueyue

• ISBN13: 9780230302594
• ISBN10: 0230302599
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Based on site visits to 22 key research teams in China, as well as interviews with ethicists and Ministry of Health officials, this book investigates how, over the last decade, Chinese stakeholders have developed a cosmopolitan sensibility in comprehending and responding to ethical and regulatory concerns with influence from both within and without their national boundaries. It elucidates the structural and administrative particularities stem cell scientists are confronted with and charts the transformation of Chinese science from an image of the 'Wild East' to a responsible player in the international stem cell community. This book demonstrates the feasibility, and implications, of a less advantaged country in influencing global research trends and provides a powerful corrective to existing cosmopolitan frameworks which are established mainly on Western data sources. It contributes both to the empirical social study of science and to current theoretical debates on cosmopolitanization.

Author Biography

Joy Yueyue Zhang is Fernand Braudel Fellow at L'cole des hautes tudes en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris, France. She previously worked at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.

Table of Contents

'Zhang deftly illuminates the worlds of stem cell research and ethical governance in China. Rather than situate scientific knowledge in terms of flows from East to West, or vice versa,this book illustrates how national agendas of science reframe knowledge and material practices as cosmopolitan.' - Nancy N. Chen, Professor of Anthropology, University of California Santa Cruz

'This is a highly original, ground breaking study as it enriches cosmopolitan theory with empirical data from a developing country.' - Ulrich Beck, Professor of Sociology, University of Munich, Germany

'Joy Zhang delivers a lucid and pioneering account of non-western science-in-the-making. This important book will be of value to a wide range of scholars by elucidating not only the cosmopolitanization of science in China, but how this process can be analysed sociologically, and why such research matters.' - Sarah Franklin, Professor of Sociology, University of Cambridge, UK