ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part reviews how social scientists have described and analyzed the transformations. It demonstrates the bioeconomy is not simply "powered by" biological research and innovation: the bioeconomy transforms the organization and conducts research and innovation that it purportedly depends on. The part describes an "imagined biological" based on a range of assumptions and understandings of articulations of genes, brains, and bodies. It focuses on the way in which economic ideas are used to justify particular forms of organization of science and medicine. The part reviews the literature from feminist science studies scholars, who have stressed the importance of analyzing the interlinkages between gender and biotechnology. It illustrates how different conceptions and implications of this notion of latent biovalue can be identified in the social science literature on the bioeconomy.
