ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the tensions around new genetic citizenship as it is articulated in professional discourses and practices in the clinic and wider policy making networks, focusing in particular upon changes and continuities between past and present. It draws on empirical studies of professional practice to illustrate some of the continuities between past and present that tend to be overlooked by scholars whose work is framed by a focus on transformation. Genetic information which is presented in certain terms, genetic counselling which is explicitly directive and elitist and antidemocratic aspects of policy-making about genetics are less likely to be considered when transformations are privileged. When one turns to consider citizenship in its broader sense of participation in policy-making, there are similar trends to those outlined above. The chapter discusses the rights and responsibilities in the clinic, but also in the wider discourse of public involvement in policy-making about genetics.
