Micro/Macro Translations: The Production of New Social Structures in the Case of DNA Profiling

Examples drawn from the history of DNA profiling in the United States are used to show how knowledge claims about DNA profiling became part of the wider social structure. A crucial aspect of this process was the formation of new social structures at the micro and macro levels. Social order and knowledge formed within a community of practice, the FBI sponsored Technical Working Group on DNA Methods (TWGDAM), was translated and entrenched in new formal social structures, such as the DNA Identification Act of 1994. This in turn gave further stability and credibility to the knowledge about DNA profiling advanced by TWGDAM, as well as their status as a credible professional organization. This article contributes an understanding of the role that new social structures play in linking the micro and the macro levels of social structure.