Misbehaving Science

In Misbehaving Science, Panofsky argues that eugenics was reinvented in the mid-20th century as behavior genetics, and that this was done in the hope of curing many social problems such as crime and homelessness.{{Cite magazine |last=Douglas |first=Kate |date=2014-07-09 |title=Reaping the whirlwind of Nazi eugenics |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329770-800-reaping-the-whirlwind-of-nazi-eugenics/ |magazine=New Scientist |language=en-US}} He refers to behavior genetics as "misbehaving science" because, according to him, the standards of scientific inquiry in this field are vague enough to allow political and social ideologies to affect scientific conclusions. As he put it in the book: "If science is like a machine for resolving controversies, in misbehaving science that machine is broken."{{Cite journal |last=Perrin |first=Andrew J. |date=2016-06-01 |title=Misbehaving Science: Controversy and the Development of Behavior Genetics By Aaron Panofsky University of Chicago Press. 2014. 320 pp. $27.50 paper, $85 cloth |url=https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/94/4/e111/2461415 |journal=Social Forces |language=en |volume=94 |issue=4 |pages=e111 |doi=10.1093/sf/sou136 |issn=0037-7732}} Panofsky also contends that behavior geneticists have reacted to disappointing research results in molecular genetics by simply lowering their expectations.{{Cite journal |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/02/schizophrenia_genes_found_not_so_fast.html |title=The Search for Schizophrenia Genes |last=Leo |first=Jonathan |date=2016-02-05 |journal=Slate |language=en-US |access-date=2018-05-29}}

==Reviews==

Reviews of Misbehaving Science were published in the British Journal for the History of Science, New Genetics and Society, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, the Journal of the History of Biology, Science, Technology & Society,{{Cite journal |last=Rodríguez-Muñiz |first=Michael |date=2018-04-30 |title=Book review: Aaron Panofsky (2014), Misbehaving Science: Controversy and the Development of Behavior Genetics |journal=Science, Technology and Society |language=en |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=346–348 |doi=10.1177/0971721818762901 |s2cid=149709434 |issn=0971-7218}} and Developmental Psychobiology.{{Cite journal |last=Greenberg |first=Gary |date=2015-07-14 |title=The Case Against Behavior Genetics: Review of Panofsky, A. (2014). Misbehaving Science: Controversy and the Development of Behavior Genetics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. |journal=Developmental Psychobiology |language=en |volume=57 |issue=7 |pages=854–857 |doi=10.1002/dev.21334 |issn=0012-1630}}

New Scientist{{'}}s Kate Douglas wrote that in Misbehaving Science, Panofsky tells the story of the development of behavior genetics "with wonderful insight". Tal Arbel of Tel Aviv University wrote that the book "offers an original, sharply intelligent and timely analysis of the historical conditions, social mechanisms and cultural forces" that led to the development of behavior genetics.{{Cite journal |last=Arbel |first=Tal |date=July 2017 |title=Aaron Panofsky , Misbehaving Science: Controversy and the Development of Behavior Genetics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2014. Pp. xi + 321. ISBN 978-0226-05845-0. £19.50 (paperback). |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |language=en |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=376–377 |doi=10.1017/S0007087417000577 |issn=0007-0874}} Another favorable review appeared in New Genetics and Society, where Northwestern University sociologist Mariana Craciun described the book as "detailed and compelling".{{Cite journal |last=Craciun |first=Mariana |date=2015-04-09 |title=Misbehaving science: controversy and the development of behavior genetics |journal=New Genetics and Society |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=91–93 |doi=10.1080/14636778.2015.1032406 |s2cid=147393924 |issn=1463-6778}} In her review of the book, Nicole C. Nelson of the University of Wisconsin–Madison wrote that "The conclusions Panofsky reaches are specific to the field of behavior genetics, but his approach offers insights that are potentially applicable to many other fields. His exemplary handling of different levels of analysis would make this text especially useful for a graduate-level methods course."{{Cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Nicole C. |date=2016-05-26 |title=Misbehaving Science: Controversy and the Development of Behavior Genetics. Aaron Panofsky, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014, 320 pp. |journal=Medical Anthropology Quarterly |language=en |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=NA |doi=10.1111/maq.12303 |issn=0745-5194}} In a review published in the Journal of the History of Biology, Hallam Stevens also praised the book, writing that Panofsky's "...empirically rich and provocative account of the history of behavior genetics gives us a compelling example of how a discipline can propel itself by courting controversy, drumming up attention, and rehashing old arguments."{{Cite journal |last=Stevens |first=Hallam |date=2015-05-01 |title=Book Review |journal=Journal of the History of Biology |language=en |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=353–355 |doi=10.1007/s10739-015-9404-9 |s2cid=247553402 |issn=0022-5010}}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

• [http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo16124298.html Book description] at the University of Chicago Press website
• {{cite journal|last1=Greenberg|first1=Gary|title=The Case Against Behavior Genetics: Review of Panofsky, A. (2014). Misbehaving Science: Controversy and the Development of Behavior Genetics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.|journal=Developmental Psychobiology|date=November 2015|volume=57|issue=7|pages=854–857|doi=10.1002/dev.21334}}

Category:2014 non-fiction books

Category:University of Chicago Press books

Category:Books about the history of science

Category:Genetics books

Category:Behavioural genetics