Nik Brown – författare

In a unique volume, Contested Futures brings together a group of scholars to examine the relationships between social action and the future. Rather than speculating upon what the future might bring, the volume interrogates the metaphors and practices through which the future is mobilized as an object of present day action and agency. The book shifts the analytical gaze from looking into the future to looking at the future as a sociological phenomenon in its own right. Futures are thus contested in as much as they register differences of interest, time frame or organizational and political form. Contestation is also evident in the ascendancy of certain discourses, languages and metaphors which foreclose some futures whilst facilitating others. But futures are far from being simply linguistic abstractions, and in fact can often be seen to harden into material entrenchment as expectations become scripted into 'path dependency' and 'lock in'. Contested Futures is an invaluable analysis for both academics and policy actors seeking a better understanding of the ubiquity of futures-discourse in the context of today’s uncertainties.

New medical technologies are increasingly at the centre of novel transformations in the human and social body. Whilst reproduction, health, ageing and dying have long been areas for technical intervention, the emergence of molecular biology and information technology raise far-reaching political, social and subjective questions.New Medical Technologies and Society provides a critical introduction to the role and cultural significance of technological innovation in redefining the boundaries of medicine and the body, tracing this process through the figure of "the lifecourse". Drawing on approaches from sociology and Science and Technology Studies, the authors explore key issues, theories and debates at the junctures of bodies and medicine. In a style that is both innovative and challenging, Nik Brown and Andrew Webster open up an important examination of new medical technologies not only for those directly engaged, but for a wider audience interested in the ways in which contemporary technologies can be interrogated through core sociological inquiry. They argue that, whilst many technologies emerge from and extend long-standing frameworks of medical treatment, genuinely novel and radical challenges to our interpretations of embodiment are emerging. The book will be essential reading for both students and scholars of the sociology of science and technology, medical sociology, social theory, genetics and informatics.

New medical technologies are increasingly at the centre of novel transformations in the human and social body. Whilst reproduction, health, ageing and dying have long been areas for technical intervention, the emergence of molecular biology and information technology raise far-reaching political, social and subjective questions.New Medical Technologies and Society provides a critical introduction to the role and cultural significance of technological innovation in redefining the boundaries of medicine and the body, tracing this process through the figure of "the lifecourse". Drawing on approaches from sociology and Science and Technology Studies, the authors explore key issues, theories and debates at the junctures of bodies and medicine. In a style that is both innovative and challenging, Nik Brown and Andrew Webster open up an important examination of new medical technologies not only for those directly engaged, but for a wider audience interested in the ways in which contemporary technologies can be interrogated through core sociological inquiry. They argue that, whilst many technologies emerge from and extend long-standing frameworks of medical treatment, genuinely novel and radical challenges to our interpretations of embodiment are emerging. The book will be essential reading for both students and scholars of the sociology of science and technology, medical sociology, social theory, genetics and informatics.

In a unique volume, Contested Futures brings together a group of scholars to examine the relationships between social action and the future. Rather than speculating upon what the future might bring, the volume interrogates the metaphors and practices through which the future is mobilized as an object of present day action and agency. The book shifts the analytical gaze from looking into the future to looking at the future as a sociological phenomenon in its own right. Futures are thus contested in as much as they register differences of interest, time frame or organizational and political form. Contestation is also evident in the ascendancy of certain discourses, languages and metaphors which foreclose some futures whilst facilitating others. But futures are far from being simply linguistic abstractions, and in fact can often be seen to harden into material entrenchment as expectations become scripted into 'path dependency' and 'lock in'. Contested Futures is an invaluable analysis for both academics and policy actors seeking a better understanding of the ubiquity of futures-discourse in the context of today’s uncertainties.