Commentary: a sociologist's view on community genetics.

This commentary illustrates and discusses potential research directions for sociologists and anthropologists interested in the field of community genetics and its emerging networks of individuals genetically at risk. Community genetics-the application of medical genetics in community settings for the benefit of individuals-also involves social issues of lay-professional misunderstandings (and more recently also the different perspectives of various expert communities), stigmatization, discrimination, and medicalization. Focusing on a socio-anthropological perspective regarding the views and disagreements surrounding the definition and scope of community genetics, I overview several epistemological, methodological, and practical contributions that such perspective can offer to the study of community genetics.