Human Capital - collectives

  • collectives are equal in terms of access to treatment (no expression of unequal access )
  • collectives differ:public often unable to judge (...yet consentment upheld as a key legitimating factor to continue stem cell research practices)

  • donors - as gift collectives - are not equal (third world donors are at greater risk) *

  • students do not tend to portray themselves as part of a public collective, others are the public (
  • no appeals to distinctions between public, experts or specialists : citizen &/vs researcher &/vs scientist not examined (roles remain distinct)

  • scientific and industry collectives typically upheld as distinct yet some hybridity does occur (when scientists work for industry)


* See :

  • Richard Tuttons's articles on: 1) Gift relationships in genetics; and 2) Exploring languages of tissue donation to biomedical research
  • Michelle Goodwin's book (2006) Black Markets : The Supply and Demand of Body Parts. Cambridge University Press.
  • Catherine Waldby and Robert Mitchel's book (2006) Tissue Economies :Blood, Organs and Cell Lines in Late Capitalism. Duke University Press


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