The article deals with the possible influences on society of developments in the
bio-medical field and especially cloning, ‘the book of life’ and eugenics. It is argued that the
present resistance against these developments may diminish under the influence of biologism
which is on the rise. The author investigates these societal influences in four fields: the welfare
state (will the notion of collective solidarity disappear?), citizenship, meritocracy (can
we expect new class divisions?) and democratic politics (the rise of new political cleavages).
