Genes, genomes and genealogies: the return of scientific racism?

Abstract This article considers the impact of recent developments within the social and natural sciences on notions of race. The Human Genome Project has generated a range of debates about what it is to be human, the genetic relations between human beings and other animals and about the connections between disease and genetic populations. These debates have not been confined to geneticists and other science professionals but have flowed into wider debates about social policy and governance in which race concepts have been re-invigorated through their association with genomically based claims about human populations. The linking of genetics and genealogy has also often served to reinforce popular notions of ancestry, descent and belonging, resulting in a view of history based on a form of ‘genetic reductionism’. This has significant implications for sociological concepts of race and ethnicity.