Species of Biocapital

Several scholars in science studies have lately sought to theorize the contemporary join of capitalism and biotechnology. A variety of terms have been forwarded to name how ‘life’ in the age of genomics, stem cell research, and reproductive technology has become enmeshed in market dynamics, and no term has become as prominent as biocapital. This article offers a classification of articulations of this concept, arguing that definitions of biocapital centre (with varying emphasis) on two transformations: in biotic substance and in economic speculation and sentiment. Experimenting with ways of representing diverse species of biocapital, this essay offers a timeline of intellectual history, a genealogy of scholarship, and a theory worksheet, which last the reader is invited to use to generate their own accounting of the bioeconomy.

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