MOS Marketing Reserch Community Seminar – Dr Klara Scheurenbrand
Title: An Ethics of Care Lens on Genomic Business: Nurturing Identity Politics and Fostering the Ethics of Service Dominant Logic at the Intersection of zoe and bios
Date: 19 June 2023
Time: 10:30-11:30
Location: NUBS.4.06
Guest Speaker: Dr Klara Scheurenbrand, ESSCA Management School and Newcastle University
If you would like to attend, please register using the following link:
Abstract:
This qualitative study applies an ethics of care lens to genomic business to examine ‘how the ethics of organizing biological “bare” life relate to socialized, political versions of life’ in the context of genomic business. As a service intersection of zoe and bios, ancestry matching on direct-to-consumer genetic testing platforms has lately been called out as the new racism for biologically classifying identity. We argue that an ethics of care approach provides far more insights into this controversial intersection than currently recognized. We propose an overdue dialogue between the ethics of care and the underdeveloped ethics of service dominant logic by drawing on Tronto’s concept of a “caring democracy” and Collins’ notion of value, the paper offers a novel lens to analyze the ethical dimensions of service relationships. In line with this conceptualization, the paper challenges the dominant individualistic and overly negative morality perspective, which limits our understanding of direct-to-consumer testing platforms, and highlights the identity political dimensions and collective quest for belonging within these contexts. This study advances the visibility of care in organizational practices, addresses ethical limitations in service dominant logic, and offers new insights into the ethical implications of life and death issues in the realm of genomic business. Empirically we support our conceptualization with data from 25 in-depth in-depth interviews with users who undertook such tests and participated in ancestry matching on the platforms.