Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Should I pitch my tent in the middle ground?: on 'middling tendency', Beck and inequality in youth sociology.

In 2009 Woodman has recently challenged youth sociologists concerned with inequality to evolve from what he describes as a middling orthodoxy that misrepresents the work of Ulrich Beck in an effort to emphasise the continuing relevance of class. In 2010 Roberts forcefully responds to Woodman, arguing that Beck’s own words and empirical evidence contradict his argument. Woodman responds to Roberts, reasserting his position and asks for the debate to move beyond mere ‘quote wars’. This paper engages with this debate, taking Woodman’s challenge seriously while maintaining that Beck’s jettison of class is problematic, and that the concept of class itself is still vital. The paper concludes with suggestions as to what youth sociologists concerned with socio-economic inequality might want to focus upon in the future

'I reckon my life will be easy, but my kids will be buggered': ambivalence in young people's positive perceptions of individual futures and their visions of environmental collapse

This article discusses young people’s attitudes towards the future in terms of two distinct risks: on the one hand, their perceptions of achieving their ambitions, on the other, their perceptions of the future of the world, particularly in terms of environmental issues. The data are discussed as a disjuncture between these issues where the positive perceptions of the likelihood of achieving ambitions are rarely linked to their pessimistic visions of societal collapse. This is discussed through the lens of social theories about risk, reflexivity, ambivalence and governmentality. It is argued that the ‘experts’ in young people’s lives - namely parents, teachers, politicians and media - discursively create a hierarchy of risk that legitimises individual choices about managing one’s own life trajectory while delegitimising action towards large scale social issues. Despite considerable awareness of coming environmental problems and frustration over inaction, young people tend to prioritise the management of individual issues that works towards the maintenance of a governmentalised subjectivity. When faced with the ambivalences inherent in a risk society, the reflexive quest for order is governmentalised

Youth and habitus at three Australian schools: perceptions of ambitions, risks and the future in reflexive modernity

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosphy (PhD)This research applies Bourdieu’s theorising of habitus and cultural capital to understand how class mediates young people’s reflexivity and perceptions of risk. It engages with the theories of reflexive modernity, primarily with the work of Beck and Giddens, who both describe recent processes of individualization, detraditionalization and the increasing importance of the concept of risk. The study seeks to critically engage with Bourdieu’s project, reworking some of his key theoretical ideas such as the possibility of ‘reflexivity’ itself being a new form of embodied cultural capital. It also engages with works that see discourses of risk as central to neo-liberal governmentality. The research entails 380 surveys and nine focus groups at three distinct secondary schools in a large regional Australian city – a public high school in an outer suburb low socio-economic area of the city which offers a specialist sports program; an inner suburb academically-selective public high school where pupils gain an offer of enrolment only through rigorous academic testing; and an expensive private college in the middle of the central business district. Year Eleven and Twelve students (16-18 years) at the three schools were asked about their ambitions; the obstacles they think may stand in the way of achieving their ambitions; and about their perceptions and experiences of inequality and risk. The risks discussed include the problems involved in the day-to-day life of young people as well as their engagement with larger risk discourses about technology and the environment. The data highlights how inequality is experienced or denied by some, and analysed from a distance by others. Reflexivity is present regardless of class position, but is expressed in a variety of ways. There are clear and subtle distinctions in engagement with micro and macro level risks. Overall, the data highlights how class continues to shape practice, perceptions and emotions

The making of a generation: the children of the 1970s in adulthood

'Generation' is a term usually deployed in two problematic ways. It is a key trope for use in marketing. In connection, but more troubling, it is a form of symbolic violence in mainstream media and political discourses where an array of generalisations, stereotypes and labels are mobilised to pathologise structural problems as individual deficiencies - lazy students bludging off their parents; disloyal careerists; technologically dependent, mindless consumers; socially irresponsible, politically apathetic individuals - and so on. By using socio-histoirical definition of generation, where it denotes how people born at a similar time face similar economic, social and cultural norms that do not necessarily parlay into common values and experiences, Andres and Wyn skilfully show how two traditional contours of inequality - class and gender - still play key roles in shaping the very different transitions of young people and do much to destroy these governmentalised caricatures

Applying theoretical paradigms to Indonesian youth in reflexive modernity

There is considerable anxiety and tension in the current generation of Indonesian youth about the future. They grapple in the particularly harsh 'precariat' of insecure work. Traditional expectations and fixed life roles have been unsettled to a great extent in urban areas by democratization and rapid economic growth. Moreover, while some young Indonesians are still engaged in political struggle (Azca et al. 2011), most are not. They are actively engaged in building the successful 'entrepreneurial self' in late modernity, seeing themselves as responsible for shaping their personal future and managing the risks they face (Parker and Nilan 2013). However, this process is not identical to what takes place in the West

Stumbling towards collapse: coming to terms with the climate crisis

Leading sociologists have approached the climate crisis by emphasising a way forward and identifying hopeful directions. What sense is to be made of suggestions that we are instead on the brink of a ‘collapse’ in which the crisis is not resolved but leads to the end of existing civilisation? Partly based on three studies of contemporary opinion in the Hunter Valley in Australia, a coal industry centre, this discussion is also based on an examination of the public response to climate change world wide, the nature of the crisis as understood by science, the political response so far and the economic problems of replacing fossil fuels. What social theories might help explain what is happening? It is concluded that ‘collapse’ can be understood by conceiving capitalist society as a social machine, informed by a ‘social imaginary’

Contemporary Balinese cruise ship workers, passengers and employers: colonial patterns of domesic service

This chapter considers Balinese service staff on transnational cruise ships. We propose that racially-targeted service staff recruitment and cruise passenger advertising point to a touristic re-creation of colonial nostalgia expressed in personalized domestic service. The luxury colonial aura attracts the white working-class to cruises, especially retirees and honeymooners. The first section of this chapter considers resonances of colonialism and the triangular relationship of power between passengers, Southeast Asian service workers and transnational cruise companies. The second section focuses on the experiences of Balinese cruise ship workers, presenting the voices of the workers themselves

Prophet of a new modernity : Ulrich Beck’s legacy for sociology

Ulrich Beck was one of the most influential sociologists of recent decades. Concepts he developed – including risk society, individualization, cosmopolitanization, subpolitics and the democratization of science – are among the most cited, used and contested in contemporary sociology. In the wake of Beck’s recent death, this review article revisits his key contributions and legacy. He proposed that a momentous shift to a new modernity has begun and challenged sociologists as to whether the concepts they use are up to the task of tracing this emerging dynamic. Provocative, Beck asked whether concepts like the nation state, family and class are functioning as ‘zombie categories’, continuing on in sociology but no longer relevant to social experience. We argue that Beck was not denying the significance of such social factors, but setting a challenge to the discipline to show how the key concepts of sociology can be reimagined in the face of social change