From the lab to the front line: How individual biogerontologists navigate their contested field |
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Authors: | Richard A Settersten Jr Michael A Flatt Roselle Ponsaran |
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Institution: | aDepartment of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, 322 Milam Hall, Corvallis OR, 97331-5102, USA;bDepartment of Bioethics, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106-4976, USA |
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Abstract: | This paper infuses a new perspective into scholarship on anti-aging science: the experiences of individual scientists as they have entered and navigated this controversial field. We draw on in-depth interviews with 43 prominent biogerontologists to accomplish three objectives. First, we highlight key factors that draw scientists into biogerontology – especially the unique and complex puzzles posed by aging. Second, we examine how biogerontologists define themselves and their research in relation to “anti-aging” science – particularly how scientists distance themselves from the tarnished history of the field and employ powerful language to distinguish legitimate from illegitimate scholarship, and science from industry. Finally, we explore how individual scientists manage any social, religious, and ethical objections to conducting “anti-aging” research — and the repertoire of responses they use to simultaneously dismantle objections and reinforce the legitimacy of their science. The analyses reveal how much is ultimately at stake for these individual scientists on the front line. |
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