On the naming of monsters : Organization, (in)equality and diversity in the age of technological reproduction

Abstract

Purpose

The pupose of this paper is twofold. First, to consider the cultural reception of recent developments in genetic technology and human reproduction, particularly in relation to the prospect of human cloning and the advent of the “designer human”; and second, to explore the ways in which public discussion of these developments presuppose and recast issues of diversity, difference and (in)equality.

Design/methodology/approach

The research draws upon UK print media sources (broadsheet and tabloid newspapers) over the past two decades to examine the ways in which cultural expectations concerning developments in reproductive technology are commonly expressed. It does not aim at a quantitative examination of the content of what was said; rather it seeks to explore how it was said and thus the discursive resources that were employed in doing so.

Findings

The paper suggests that images of “technology” function simultaneously as “mirrors of society”, providing a means for articulating and rhetorically rehearsing the various philosophical antinomies and moral conflicts that characterize social organization.

Originality/value

The paper adopts a novel approach to the question of diversity, difference and (in)equality by considering the “monsters” discursively associated with recent developments in genetic and reproductive technology as well as the “monstrous” forms of social organization that they foreshadow.

Citation

Bloomfield, B.P. and Vurdubakis, T. (2014), "On the naming of monsters : Organization, (in)equality and diversity in the age of technological reproduction", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 33 No. 7, pp. 575-594. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2012-0028