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Epigenetics and Society

Race

Epigenetics can be used to observe the mediating factor of psychosocial stress in the racial health disparities and differences. Specific diseases or conditions have been viewed as belonging to a certain race. Enduring the psychosocial stress that society has placed on people of color can cause durable epigenetic changes linked to behavior and physiology. When these factors are not accounted for, it may appear that people of color are predisposed to a particular illness simply because of their race. People of color live in poorer living conditions with less access to resources, and lower socioeconomic neighborhoods, as a result of sociocultural norms in America. This makes people of color more susceptible to harmful epigenetic changes.

Gender

A large focus in epigenetics is a process called fetal imprinting. This occurs when a child in the womb receives information about the mother's environment, thus changing expression of the child's genome. These changes may result from diet, psychological stress, and more. Society plays a major role in a mother's psychological state and living conditions. The discrimination that women face in today's society may lead to poorer quality of living that could translate to negative trans-generational effects on her children and grandchildren. Oftentimes, negative societal effects on the fetus are portrayed as the mother's fault, even when it is a result of circumstances she was forced into.

Ethics

Moving forward, epigenetic science should be conducted in a full scope of perspectives. This would reduce the bias of searching for one possible cause of epigenetic change and open the door to see how the environment, society, and individuals all interact to end on a phenotype expression. Epigenetics done this way will reduce attribution error and societal discrimination of vulnerable groups.