ABSTRACT
Making sense of the application of the new genetics to health and public health relates to our understanding of the role of new tech¬ nology in the contemporary social world. Our discussion of the new genetics has highlighted the ways that emerging technologies of surveillance, epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment have implications for social relationships in relation to counselling practice and to the conceptions of citizenship. Here we present the new genetics as one of many technologies that are transforming modern societies. We argue that the new genetic knowledge and techniques are changing some of the fundamental concepts and practices of public health. Genetic technologies have consequences for the surveillance of the individual and populations. They have consequences for the environment and for the survival of potentially harmful ‘agents’ that threaten our health. In affecting all of these elements they bring into question some familiar features of public health. In this chapter we discuss the broad social implications of technology for industrial societies and how we can account for the place of new technologies. We then examine how gene technologies are introducing new ways of thinking and working within the field.
