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Chapter 4 Concepts of Heredity in Western Society The historically developed traditional definition of family and kinship has culminated in the new genetics, a relativelyrecent phenomenon in Western scientific thought. Conceptualizations have changed over time, pointing to the historicallycontingent nature of what is accepted as reality arid truth. Historically, it washeld that the family and kin bestowed on their offspring economic and social standing, as well as such personal characteristics as physical traits, character, and health. There was a prevailing notion that character resided in the blood.1 But while, generally speaking, people may no longer expect to inherit wealth, social characteristics , and even social position from families and kin, the hereditability of personal attributes has been amplifiedwithin the past century. Durkheim, writing in the 1930s, asserted that heredity was a very important influence on the division of social functions. For example, in egalitarian societiesprior to the development of a hierarchical divisionof labor, hereditary roles were of little importance, but as soon as the division of labor appeared, it became fixed into a form transmitted byheredity . However, Durkheim added, "what is certain is that faith in heredity, formerly so intense, has today been replaced by an almost opposed faith. We tend to believe the individual is in large part the son of his work, and even to scorn the bonds, which attach him to his race and make him depend upon it."2 With the exception of elites, contemporary American society is distinguished by the fact that some individuals may create and re-create their social and economic positions several times over in a lifetime. Each generation may begin anew, presumably improving its position and economic well-being. In fact, Gottlieb observes that "inherited wealth is regarded with some suspicion and isheavilytaxed. Bycontrast, in the past everything tended to be inherited,"3 linkingthe generations and forging ties to the past. Concepts of Heredity in Western Society 45 In Europe, until at least the nineteenth century, inheritance was a viable principle and exerted a powerful moral weight.4 Hereditary ties linked European families,3 whereas in the American colonies the Declaration of Independence made concepts of inheritability suspect. It was self-evident that all men were created equal, arid itwasno longer officially accepted that unequal status and character were inherited by birth. Following the American Revolution, laws were passed prohibiting most kinds of inherited status positions except, of course, slavery. Legal decrees and social sanctions thus diminished the importance of family and kinship ties bestowed by inheritance. Durkheim, believing that society had progressed when it departed from hereditary notions in social and economic life, was concerned about scientific notions of heredity. He observed that, if success in science were solely a matter of heredity, there would be a great many more sons of doctors and chemists, than sons of pastors.6 But as a Westerner Durkheim acknowledged that humans tend to recognize hereditary resemblance to parents or other relatives, regardless of how they defined their kin. Certainly, in Western societyit was taken for granted that "like begets like,"' even though such recognition was not universal.8 Up until the nineteenth century, the unquestioned assumption existed that individuals resembled their relatives; after that time this basic premise also became privileged as scientifically meaningful. Historical Developments in the Scientific Study of Heredity Historically, the scientific study of heredity was in a state of confusion before the Mendelian era.9 Various theories existed to explain how an offspring became formed from the parent. The preformation theory came into prominence in the middle of the seventeenth century,when it was believed that the embryo grew from a perfectly formed miniature already present in the mother's ovum;10 it wasalso believed that a Creator shaped each being. Similarities were indications of divine intention and of the connection of all beings, except, of course, between humans and beasts. Following the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century, a search began for laws of nature; generation became an expression of nature's regularities,which humans were expected to decode.11 In the eighteenth century,people began to acknowledge that an offspring may look like its mother, not only like its father, contrary both to the Galenic view that semen nourished the blood and the womb arid to religious beliefs of creation.1 - In fact, heredity as a causal concept was a marginalized set of facts lacking explanatory power. Even medical dictionaries lacked entries on hereditv or inheritance until the last decades of the [18.227.48.131] Project...

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