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I. Glenn Cohen, Genomic Politics and Equality, 2 Am. J. L. & Equal. 373 (2022) (reviewing Jennifer Hochschild, Genomic Politics: How the Revolution in Genomic Science Is Shaping Society (2021)).


Abstract: Professor Jennifer Hochschild’s Genomic Politics: How the Revolution in Genomic Science Is Shaping Society is a must-read for anyone interested in where our politics about genetics in America has been and where it is going. It is also an exemplar of how to do mixed-methods social science work: Hochschild combines theory with database searches and coding of congressional acts and social science journal articles, open-ended interviews with authors of leading peer-reviewed articles and other experts (semi-structured with genomic experts),1 and two sets of relatively lengthy online surveys (one administered in 2011 and one in 2017, nicely allowing some opportunity to detect change) to arrive at a much more complete picture than I have seen anywhere in the extensive literature. Part I summarizes the book and highlights its main contributions. Part II engages with three questions on which the book has something to say, but where I think a longer conversation is warranted: (1) What explains the lack of partisan politicization on these topics? (2) How should equality theorists think about obligations of justice that stem from genetic bad luck and the possibility of redistribution? (3) What would it mean to take seriously the critiques of race as a genetic category and what would that mean for equality discourse?