5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Advanced technologies, including digital technologies, genetic therapies, stem cell treatments, antibiotics and antiviral treatments, figure prominently in contemporary conceptions of health, medicine and healthcare. They tend to be underpinned by high hopes and expectations, but often fail to deliver what they promise or have unforeseen or unintended consequences, including the production of inequalities and personal harms, such as those resulting from unnecessary or excessive diagnosis and treatment. This session will explore how technologies are being applied or envisaged to apply in the domains of health, medicine and healthcare showing how these applications and visions arise and shape practices in different settings (for example, collecting, aggregating, sharing data and predicting disease in healthcare institutions, individual self-monitoring of health and risk status) and consider the implications for individuals, communities and societies.