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Perspectives on the Future of the Sociology of Aging (2012) / Chapter Skim
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9 The Challenge of Social Genomics: A Commentary on "Social Genomics and the Life Course: Opportunities and Challenges for Multilevel Population Research"
Pages 173-178

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Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 173...
... It is worth thinking seriously about what direction aging research will move should it fully embrace a social genomic agenda. In Shanahan's chapter, the appeal of social genomics is cast in terms of identifying mechanisms and strengthening causal effects, which, early in his chapter, Shanahan describes as the "major payoff" for population research.
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From page 174...
... For one, the provisionality Shanahan identifies with respect to causal inference in the social sciences applies as much to biological processes as social ones, resulting in uncertainty at all levels. Shanahan points to the widespread use of nonexperimental survey data in population research, but nonexperimental data are used in social genomics as well and there, too, this usage has serious implications.
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From page 175...
... If stress has a prominent transcriptional fingerprint, as Shanahan notes, socioeconomic status has an enormous mortality footprint. Lest researchers disregard genes or environments altogether, motivating interaction effects should perhaps take a back-seat to motivating main effects.
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From page 176...
... But if social genomics is fundamentally about illuminating mediational pathways, it would do just as well to remind social scientists that the mind is important as to remind them that genes are important, and the former can be considered without the latter. Indeed, the literature risks misplaced specificity by focusing on genetic transcription, and, in the process of further reduction over consecutive stages, risks overlooking other important influences.
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From page 177...
... They are also central to how the social environment is created, construed, and remembered, and therefore can speak to person-environment interactions. The high-degree of contingency within social genomics -- an especially appealing aspect of the field -- is echoed throughout contemporary personality psychology (Mischel, 2004)
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From page 178...
... . Genetic Interactions with Prenatal Social Environment: Effects on Academic and Behavioral Outcomes.
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Key Terms

  • social genomics
  • social scientists
  • psychological influences
  • shanahan notes
  • genetic transcription

  • social genomic
  • transcription processes
  • population research
  • social processes
  • worth exploring

  • chronic stress
  • social factors
  • causal effects
  • shanahan articulates
  • main effects

  • genomic research
  • multilevel approach
  • sympathetic nervous
  • nonexperimental data
  • psychological factors

  • inflammatory processes
  • inflammatory response
  • regarding causality
  • apparent resilience
  • policy settings

  • factors motivate
  • disease outcomes
  • notable feature
  • comparative studies
  • strengthening causal


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