<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Racial/ethnic categorization in medicine presents challenges for clinicians and patients alike. Challenges arise because racial/ethnic identities do not match with objective biological traits, and at the same time, these identities do have medical consequences in a racially and ethnically stratified society. Three major epistemological approaches – biological realism, eliminativism, and constructivism – dominate scientific theorization on the consequences of racial/ethnic categorization in medicine. In this paper, I present a case study of Hungarian medical genetic discourse that focuses on the possible applications of race/ethnicity regarding Roma and non-Roma patients. In applying the methods of constructivist grounded theory, I recorded and analysed 34 expert interviews with human geneticists between 2011 and 2015. In this paper, I argue that the constructivist understanding of medical diagnoses must be complemented with materialist sensitivity, thus making sense of the contingent nature of race/ethnicity as factors that contribute to medical understanding.</p>
</abstract>

Racial/ethnic categorization in medicine presents challenges for clinicians and patients alike. Challenges arise because racial/ethnic identities do not match with objective biological traits, and at the same time, these identities do have medical consequences in a racially and ethnically stratified society. Three major epistemological approaches – biological realism, eliminativism, and constructivism – dominate scientific theorization on the consequences of racial/ethnic categorization in medicine. In this paper, I present a case study of Hungarian medical genetic discourse that focuses on the possible applications of race/ethnicity regarding Roma and non-Roma patients. In applying the methods of constructivist grounded theory, I recorded and analysed 34 expert interviews with human geneticists between 2011 and 2015. In this paper, I argue that the constructivist understanding of medical diagnoses must be complemented with materialist sensitivity, thus making sense of the contingent nature of race/ethnicity as factors that contribute to medical understanding.

Implications of Racial/Ethnic Classification in the Hungarian Post-Genomic Medical Discourse

American, and German Studies, Eszterhazy Karoly Catholic University

Treatises and Documents, Journal of Ethnic Studies / Razprave in Gradivo, Revija za narodnostna vprašanja

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Racial/ethnic categorization in medicine presents challenges for clinicians and patients alike. Challenges arise because racial/ethnic identities do not match...

Implications of Racial/Ethnic Classification in the Hungarian Post-Genomic Medical Discourse

Published Online: Sep 29, 2023

Page range: 113 - 132

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36144/rig88.jun22.113-132

Keywords
medical genetics, health equality, race, ethnicity, Roma

© 2022 Barna Szamosi, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Implications of Racial/Ethnic Classification in the Hungarian Post-Genomic Medical Discourse

Published Online: Sep 29, 2023

Page range: 113 - 132

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36144/rig88.jun22.113-132

Keywordsmedical genetics, health equality, race, ethnicity, Roma

© 2022 Barna Szamosi, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
medical genetics, health equality, race, ethnicity, Roma