DISRUPTED BOUNDARIES - NEW REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND THE LANGUAGE OF ANXIETY AND EXPECTATION

被引:18
作者
BLOOMFIELD, BP
VURDUBAKIS, T
机构
[1] Manchester School of Management, UMIST, PO Box 88
关键词
D O I
10.1177/030631295025003005
中图分类号
N09 [自然科学史]; B [哲学、宗教];
学科分类号
01 ; 0101 ; 010108 ; 060207 ; 060305 ; 0712 ;
摘要
In this Comment, we elaborate upon Mulkay's discussion of the rhetorics of hope and fear in the UK debate over research on human embryos, by focusing on the narrative strategies and cultural presuppositions that allow certain technological developments to be (re)presented as 'hopeful' or 'fearsome'. We argue that boundary talk and its associated vocabularies of purify and pollution provide Mulkay's rhetorics with a semantic construction kit. They are the means through which 'hope' and 'fear', as rhetorical effects, are achieved. Finally, we discuss the wider significance that could be attributed to these discursive moves - that is, as pointers to how the relationship of a culture to its technologies is constituted.
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页码:533 / 551
页数:19
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