Fostering New Solidarities to Remake Bioethics: Moving From Proposal to Action

Abstract: What would it take for bioethics to become oriented toward progressive social transformation? As bioethics evolves, its role in shaping policies, practices, and public discourse has never been more critical. This workshop will explore how bioethics can move beyond traditional frameworks to become an agent for social transformation and health equity. However, it also asks: is this possible for bioethics in the US, given that most institutional structures that support US bioethics are economically underwritten by the country’s largely for-profit healthcare system and philosophically rooted in liberal (largely pro-capitalist) traditions? If refashioning bioethics in a social-democratic image is not possible, how can new forms of solidarity be fostered within the field to bring about alternative ways of doing bioethics that support progressive social transformation? This ASBH workshop will explore these questions, aiming to create one or more concrete outcomes to be pursued after the conference such as a new ASBH Affinity Group, special issue proposal, or other formalized group to help build transformative solidarities within bioethics. The workshop extends a similar 2024 ASBH workshop and accompanying conversations that have included clinicians, clinical ethicists, public health ethicists, social scientists, scholars in science and technology studies, and others. The workshop will utilize a breakout-and-report-back structure around these topics: (1) Envisioning alternative canons for bioethics (e.g., Marxisms, women of color feminisms, decolonial theory, climate and the late anthropocene); (2) Institutionalizing new solidarities in bioethics (e.g., an ASBH Affinity Group or other formation); (3) Publication outputs (e.g., special issue).

Keywords: Health equity, Bioethics, Social transformation