Reproduction is central to human society and deeply meaningful to individuals, yet it is often rendered invisible, marginalized, or merely taken for granted in studies of social life. At a moment when reproduction is increasingly politicized, the volume explores the breadth of contemporary research on reproduction from the perspective of medical sociology, illuminating the lived experience of reproduction and offering insights to inform sociology and health policy.
Reproduction, Health and Medicine advances our understanding of the tensions and contradictions between the normal physiologic processes of pregnancy and birth and the sociocultural beliefs, values and arrangements that shape how we experience these biological phenomena. Investigating a range of reproductive events and experiences, including pregnancy, birth, abortion and fertility planning, in diverse settings, the volume advances our understanding of how lay people and professionals make cultural meaning out of these processes. The chapters highlight how studies of reproduction, health and medicine interface with core sociological concepts such as stratification, inequality, intersectionality, family and kinship, risk, social control, and social movements, and how experiences of reproduction are shaped by gender, race, class, sexuality and citizenship, as well as culture, health care systems, and health politics.
