ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the recent re-emergence of the concept of the social in biology. This new so-called 'social biology' is built on a postgenomic view of developing organisms in which the material and especially social environment of organisms is thought to shape not only the expression profile of genes but also humans' ontogenetic and even transgenerational destinies. The chapter investigates how the explanatory framework of postgenomics in general and epigenetics in particular leads to new so-called 'sociotechnical imaginaries' of humans' future. It shows that a number of postgenomic views of this future are grounded in a new link between biological concepts used in molecular and developmental biology (like phenotypic plasticity and organism) and social, anthropological and normative concepts (like milieu, body, identity, innateness, self-determination and responsibility). The chapter discusses the impact of this new conceptual synthesis between the social and the biological on science and public health policies.
