Blinded by Science

David Wastell began his career as a cognitive neuroscientist at Durham University before moving to the Medical School at Manchester, where his interests in technology led him to specialize in Information Systems. He is now Emeritus Professor of Information Systems at Nottingham University.Sue White is Professor of Social Work at the University of Sheffield. She is a registered social worker with an academic background in sociology and has spent the last two decades researching how professionals use knowledge in their everyday reasoning.

"Too often early childhood policy is founded on dogmatic interpretations of over-simplified science. Skepticism is the antidote, which this remarkable piece of scholarship provides, bringing ethical concerns to the fore." John Bruer, President Emeritus, James S. McDonnell Foundation "Forensically detailed, compelling and at points unsettling, this book is a very welcome antidote to simplistic policy appropriations of biology. It deserves to be widely read." Val Gillies, Professor of Social Policy and Criminology, University of Westminster

• Neuro-bio-social policy;PART I: GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE THOUGHT STYLES;Biology and the drive for social improvement;Understanding how brain science is created and interpreted;Blaming the Brain;PART II: FIXING REAL PEOPLE;The Cat is Out of the Bag - From early intervention to child protection;Perfecting People: The Inexorable Rise of Prevention Science;Epigenetics - from rat mum to my mum?;Human Epigenetics Prematurely Born(e)?;Are We Broken? Fixing People (or Society) in the 21st Century.