Key Concepts in Bioethics

A comprehensive set of flashcards summarizing key concepts in bioethics, covering ethical issues in medicine, research practices, and social implications.

Bioethics

A field of moral reasoning concerned with ethical issues in medicine, research, and biotechnology.

Biological citizenship

A form of political and social belonging based on biological or health status, through which individuals claim rights, resources, or recognition from states or institutions.

Ethical variability

The uneven application and interpretation of ethical standards across different geopolitical, economic, and regulatory settings.

Pharmaceuticalized bodies

Bodies defined, regulated, and treated through pharmaceutical interventions, shaped by global drug markets and clinical trials.

Treatment naïveté

A condition where populations have not previously received certain medical treatments, making them attractive for clinical trials.

Placebo vs. active control trial

A trial comparing a treatment to an inactive substance versus one comparing it to an existing standard treatment.

Helsinki Declaration

An international statement outlining ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects.

Disposable kin

Family members whose care labor is treated as expendable within global systems of care and migration.

Kinship as being

Understanding kinship as biologically given and fixed.

Kinship as doing

Understanding kinship as produced through everyday practices of care, obligation, and interaction.

Stratified reproduction

The unequal valuation and regulation of reproductive capacities across social groups.

Stratified care work

The organization of care labor along lines of class, race, gender, and migration.

Emotional labor

The management of feelings and emotional expressions as part of paid or unpaid work.

Kinship and care

The interdependence between kin relations and caregiving practices.

Hostile worlds/separate spheres

The belief that economic transactions and intimate relationships should remain morally separate.

Biomedical technologies

Medical and scientific technologies that intervene in biological processes.

Bioviolence

Structural or systemic harm inflicted on bodies through biomedical practices.

Organ commodification

The transformation of human organs into marketable goods within global transplant economies.

'Living cadavers'

A term highlighting how organ sellers are viewed as biologically useful but socially disposable.

'Spare parts'

A metaphor reducing human bodies to interchangeable components for medical use.

Microcredit loans

Small loans intended to alleviate poverty that may pressure individuals into selling organs.

Autonomy and agency of the poor

A critique of the idea that organ sellers freely choose to sell organs due to structural constraints.

'Donating' organs

The framing of organ sales as altruistic donation, obscuring economic coercion.

Racialized commodities

Biological materials whose value is shaped by racial meanings and hierarchies.

Reproductive technology

Technologies that assist or intervene in reproduction.

Gamete

A reproductive cell containing half the genetic material required for reproduction.

Biomaterial

Biological substances derived from bodies for medical or scientific purposes.

Re-biologizing race

The process of re-naturalizing race as a biological fact through biomedical practices.

Bio-commodities

Biological materials bought, sold, or exchanged in markets.

Commodity fetishism

A concept describing how social relationships are obscured by the perceived value of commodities.

Commodification of bodies

The process transforming bodies or body parts into objects of economic exchange.

Singularization

Marking certain bodies as unique and non-exchangeable to limit commodification.

Exchangeability

The capacity of commodities to be substituted for one another in a market.

Sacrifice

The moral framing of giving up life or integrity for human benefit.

Substitution

Replacing human bodies or risks with animal bodies in medical research.

Corporeal exchange

The transfer of biological substances across species or bodies.

Calculative exchange

Cost-benefit reasoning used to justify biomedical practices.

Politics of labor

Power relations shaping how labor is organized, valued, and exploited.

Horizontal gene transfer

The movement of genetic material between organisms outside of reproduction.

Antibiotic resistance

The capacity of bacteria to survive antibiotic treatments.

'Living' waste

Biological byproducts that continue to act and mutate.

Surplus value

Value extracted from labor beyond what is paid to workers.

Fecal dust storms

Airborne waste particles from industrial farming posing public health risks.

Patchy Anthropocene

Understanding environmental change as unevenly distributed across places.

Global petri dish

A metaphor for interconnected global conditions enabling rapid disease emergence.

One Health

An interdisciplinary approach recognizing the interconnection between human, animal, and environmental health.

Three epidemiological transitions

Shifts in disease dominance from infectious to chronic illness.

Emerging diseases

Diseases that are newly appearing or increasing after decline.

Zoonosis

Diseases transmitted between animals and humans.

Stigma (Goffman)

A socially constructed process producing fear and exclusion toward certain attributes.

Invisible stigmatized conditions (disclosure)

Conditions not visible that require individuals to decide whether to reveal them.

Disability

A condition shaped by physical impairment and structural barriers.

Chronic illness and sick role

Long-term illness complicating the expected temporary sick role.

Population aging

Demographic increase in the proportion of older adults within a population.

Permanent personhood

The idea that personhood remains intact despite decline.

Meaningful decline

Understanding aging that values relational and moral life amid loss.

Successful aging

A dominant model emphasizing independence, productivity, and health in aging.

Bare life

Life reduced to biological existence without full recognition.

Cruddiness

The material messiness of aging bodies challenging ideals of cleanliness.

Cumulative advantage/disadvantage

The process by which inequalities compound over time, shaping health outcomes.

Social soundness guidelines

Principles ensuring health interventions are culturally appropriate and ethically grounded.

Cultural competency

The ability to work effectively across cultural differences.

Risk reduction workshops

Community-based interventions focused on minimizing harm.

Community Participatory Involvement

Collaborative community engagement in health program design.

Explanatory models

Frameworks describing how individuals understand illness.

Medical pluralism

The coexistence of multiple medical systems within a society.

Hierarchy of resort

The order in which people seek different forms of care.

Cultural humility

An approach emphasizing lifelong learning and power awareness.