Steven Wainwright

Brunel University London · Department of Sociology and Communications

The ethical issues neuroscience raises are subject to increasing attention, exemplified in the emergence of the discipline neuroethics. While the moral implications of neurotechnological developments are often discussed, less is known about how ethics intersects with everyday work in neuroscience and how scientists themselves perceive the ethics of...

In 2006, a small group of UK academic scientists made headlines when they proposed the creation of interspecies embryos - mixing human and animal genetic material. A public campaign was fought to mobilize support for the research. Drawing on interviews with the key scientists involved, this paper argues that engaging the public through communicatin...

Will human embryonic stem (hES) cells lead to a revolutionary new regenerative medicine? We begin to answer this question by drawing on interviews with scientists and clinicians from leading labs and clinics in the UK and the USA, exploring their views on the bench-bedside interface in the fields of hES cells, neuroscience and diabetes. We employ B...

This paper aims to make an empirically informed analytical contribution to the development of a more socially embedded bioethics. Drawing upon 10 interviews with cutting edge stem cell researchers (5 scientists and 5 clinicians) it explores and illustrates the ways in which the role positions of translational researchers are shaped by the [Symbol:...

In this paper we develop a geography of science framework to examine the social, scientific and medical dimensions of human embryonic stem cell research. We outline David Livingstone's approach to geographies of science as “sites of speech and locations of locution” to explore the spatial shaping of science and the scientific shaping of space. Draw...

IntroductionBallet, Body, and BourdieuEmbodiment and the Dancer's HabitusAging and Career in BalletDiscussionNotesReferences

In this paper we offer some reflections on embryos in the biomedical worlds of embryonic stem cells (ESC) and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). We draw upon two ethnographic studies of the social practices of PGD and embryonic stem cell science to examine the notion of boundary objects as an approach for understanding the social constructio...

This study explores and describes experiences of chronic liver disease from the patient's perspective. No qualitative research studies appear to have examined the experiences of these patients. In–depth focused interviews and grounded theory data collection and data analysis methods were used. A two‐stage theoretical framework (becoming ill, and no...

In this paper we discuss genetic discourses and practices in stem cell science. We report on how biomedical scientists, in both the UK and the USA, view the scientific literature and their own experimental research in the emerging field of human embryonic stem (hES) cells. We focus on the genetic manipulation of stem cells to make specialized (beta...

Liver transplantation is now an accepted and successful therapy for both acute and chronic liver diseases. Whilst the study of health related quality of life (HRQoL) post-transplantation for chronic liver disease (CLD) has been well documented, there is little data measuring HRQoL following liver transplantation for acute liver failure (ALF), despi...

The aim in this article is to write an evocative ethnography of the embodiment of ballet as a cultural practice. The authors draw on their fieldwork at the Royal Ballet (London), where they conducted 20 in-depth interviews with ballet staff (and watched "the company at work" in class, rehearsal, and performance). They explored dancers' (n = 9) and...

In this paper, we examine the controversy surrounding the Lumelsky protocol (which potentially could have transformed the procedures for differentiating embryonic stem cells into beta cells for diabetes treatment). The protocol is analyzed initially using Collins' core set model to show how the controversy over epistemic claims was resolved (and th...

In this paper we explore the temporalities entailed in scientists' accounts of their research into the use of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) to develop beta cells for the treatment of diabetes. Stem cell scientists, by virtue of working in what is still a controversial field, find themselves engaged with a variety of more or less transparent fut...

Most accounts of the ethics of stem cell research are de-contextualised reviews of the ethical and legal literature. In this chapter we present a socially embedded account of some of the ethical implications of stem cell research, from the perspectives of scientists directly involved in this area. Based on an ethnography of two leading embryonic st...

In this paper, we discuss physiological images in the biomedical sciences. We argue that the biological body is missing from much social research on the life sciences. Social theory has tended to focus on the exterior of the cultural body, while the interior of the biological body remains unexplored. Our purpose in this paper is to explore the mate...

The overall aim of our research was to produce an ethnography of ballet as a social practice. We draw upon our fieldwork at the Royal Ballet (London) where we conducted 20 in-depth interviews with ballet staff, and observed ‘the company at work’, in class, rehearsal, and performance. We explored dancers’ (n = 9) and ex-dancers’ (who are now adminis...

The movement of scientific research from the bench to the bedside is becoming an increasingly important aspect of modern 'biomedical societies'. There is, however, currently a dearth of social science research on the interaction between the laboratory and the clinic. The recent upsurge in global funding for stem cell research is largely premised on...

Most accounts of the ethics of stem cell research are de- contextualised reviews of the ethical and legal literature. In this chapter we present a socially embedded account of some of the ethical implications of stem cell research, from the perspectives of scientists directly involved in this area. Based on an ethnography of two leading embryonic s...

Liver transplantation is an accepted and successful therapy for both acute and chronic liver diseases (CLDs), with good survival outcomes. Whilst the study of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) post transplantation for CLDs have been well documented, there is little data measuring HRQoL following liver transplantation for acute liver failure (A...

Ballet is, for reasons that are unclear, a neglected topic in the sociology of the body. Our article works on three levels: firstly, as an account of ex-dancers’‘lived experience’ of embodiment; secondly, as an application of Bourdieu’s theoretical schema; and thirdly, as a philosophically grounded critique of radical social constructionist views o...

AIM; In this paper, we focus on ageing as an area in which nursing, society and the humanities can be profitably conjoined. We illustrate our argument with three case studies of ageing: in painting, opera and ballet. There has been a recent spectacular increase in papers devoted to the relatively new field of the medical humanities. We argue for a...

In this article we focus upon the embodiment of vulnerability as an area in which medicine, society and the humanities can be profitably conjoined. We illustrate our argument with two interrelated case studies of narratives of the embodiment of ageing and longevity. First, we draw upon Leoš Janáček’s opera The Makropulos Case (1926) as a locus for...

Narratives of suffering and vulnerability are an important theme in western art, the humanities and the social sciences. It is argued here that J.M.W. Turner's pictures, like those of many artists, are biographical tales. The central tenet of Turner's romantic art is the arousal of sensation and Turner's pictures include wonderfully evocative 'visu...

Social worlds shape human bodies and so it is inevitable that there are strong relationships between the body, professional dance and identity. In this article we draw on Bourdieu's notions of habitus, and various forms of capital, as the main theoretical framework for our discussion. Our ethnography of the balletic body elicited dancers and ex-dan...

In this paper the Romantic ballet Giselle (1841) is used as a case study through which to examine the themes of madness and death. Giselle is a heartrending story of the intertwining of love and death. It is argued that Giselle is an evocative example of narratives of hysteria and suicide, and literature in the field of medical history is drawn upo...

Our ethnography of the balletic body is a contribution to the relatively small corpus of empirical research studies on embodiment in general and on dance as a social practice in particular. In contrast, much of the literature on the sociology of the body is characterized by its theoretical discussion of the nature of the body. We draw upon our fiel...

Narratives of ageing are an important theme in both medical sociology and the sociology of the body. Research on representations of the ageing body typically draws upon such subjects as the paintings of Rembrandt or Victorian literature. In this paper, however, the aim is to demonstrate that some of J. M. W. Turner's pictures contain insightful nar...

Bodies matter as our experience of them is the basis both for social life and also for much medical and social research. There has been a spectacular increase in academic research on the body in the last twenty years or so. This paper-although a review of three ethnographic studies on the seemingly disparate and narrow fields of the embodiment of w...

Abstract This paper contributes to debate on social constructionism in the sociology of health and illness through a study of injury among ballet dancers. In this empirical study of classical ballet dancers, we outline a phenomenology of the injured and ageing body in terms of a critical commentary on constructionism. We explore dancers’ experience...

With an increasing demand for intensive care beds more nurses in acute and high dependency wards will be expected to care competently for patients with tracheostomy tubes. Tracheal suctioning is an essential aspect of effective airway management. However, this has many associated risks and complications, ranging from trauma and hypoxaemia to, in ex...

• Endotracheal suctioning is a frequently performed procedure that has many associated risks and complications. It is imperative that nurses are aware of these risks and are able to practise according to current research recommendations. • This study was designed to examine to what extent intensive care nurses’ knowledge and practice of endotrachea...

The integration of survey data with psycho-social theories is an important and emerging theme within the field of health inequalities research. This paper critically examines this approach arguing that the respective models of health inequality which these approaches promote, the related concepts of 'social cohesion' and 'social capital' suffer fro...

This paper offers a realist critique of social research on health inequalities. A conspectus of the field of health inequalities research identifies two main research approaches: the positivist quantitative survey and the interpretivist qualitative 'case study'. We argue that both approaches suffer from serious philosophical limitations. We suggest...

End stage renal disease (ESRD) inevitably reduces the life-span of its victims. The treatment of choice for many patients is transplantation but this does not effect a cure. Its aim is to improve renal function and thus to enhance the patient's ability to enjoy as full a life as possible. However, surprisingly little research has been concerned wit...

The problems of non-adherence with treatment in health care in general, and with medication adherence in particular, is an area with a voluminous and burgeoning literature. However, there appears to be no review of the literature on non-adherence with medications in organ transplant patients. This comprehensive review therefore considers literature...

Realism has been the dominant approach in the philosophy of science for the last 20 years. Realist philosophy has also been widely employed across a range of social sciences. Unfortunately, these powerful intellectual currents have not reached the shores of nursing which appears trapped in a time-warped debate about ‘qualitative’ (constructivist) a...

The purpose of this review was to critically examine the literature published in the English language (1983-1995) related to the use of self-medication programmes by hospital patients and to determine whether such a scheme could be implemented and evaluated within the acute medical setting. Searches revealed a wealth of information relating to self...

End-stage renal disease is a chronic condition which reduces the life-span of its victims. At present there is no cure. Renal transplantation, currently the treatment of choice for many patients, is potentially associated with a number of drawbacks: constant risk of rejection, especially during the first six months, the need to comply with a comple...

This study explores and describes experiences of chronic liver disease from the patient's perspective. No qualitative research studies appear to have examined the experiences of these patients. In-depth focused interviews and grounded theory data collection and data analysis methods were used. A two-stage theoretical framework (becoming ill, and no...

Endotracheal suctioning is a routine but potentially dangerous procedure. The literature documenting approaches to minimizing the cardiopulmonary complications of endotracheal suctioning is reviewed. Hyperoxygenation, hyperventilation, hyperinflation and the use of adaptors are all evaluated. The effects of endotracheal suctioning on haemodynamics...

Endotracheal suctioning is a routine but potentially dangerous nursing procedure. The research literature documenting approaches to minimising the complications of endotracheal suctioning in adults with severe head injuries is reviewed. Hyperoxygenation, hyperventilation, hyperinflation, normal saline instillation and the effects of endotracheal su...

Liver transplantation is now the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage chronic liver disease. However, few studies have examined the recovery of liver transplant patients and no qualitative research studies have examined the experiences of these patients. Therefore the purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of l...

Liver transplantation is now the treatment of choice for patients with end stage chronic liver disease. However, there appears to be no review of the literature on patient recovery from liver transplantation. This comprehensive review presents a picture of the state of the art in liver transplantation, and considers literature on psychiatric, funct...

This paper argues for the salience of the work of Pierre Bourdieu - social theorist, anthropologist, sociologist, philosopher and empirical researcher - for realist social science. I argue that although realism generally wins the philosophical battles with its main rivals; it is losing the social research war to positivism, social constructionism a...