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Childbirth, Politics & the Culture of Risk
Edited by Kerreen Reiger, Alphia Possamai-Inesedy & Karen Lane
ISBN13: 978-0-9775242-5-9 Length iv + 92 pages Format s/c
AVAILABLE OCTOBER 2006
The field of childbirth is increasingly contentious in Australia with media reports of escalating staff shortages and conflicts over philosophy of management, service delivery and roles of professional care providers. Released as a course reader, this special issue of Health Sociology Review (volume 15/4 - October 2006) addresses the 'politics of maternity care' and the 'culture of fear' by drawing on contemporary social theory and research in order to clarify practical and policy issues.
Many governmental enquiries, subsequent recommendations and policy proposals have sought to decrease technological intervention in the physiological processes of conception, pregnancy and childbirth (eg Parliament of Australia, Senate, 1999; New Sough Wales Health, 2000; Victoria, 2004), but 'medicalised birth' still dominates the mainstream health system and can be argued that it is actively sought by an increasing population of women and families.
Childbirth, Politics & the Culture of Risk (ISBN 0-9775242-5-6) extends the strong social science critique of the 'medicalisation' of birth - which has been further impacted by the growth of modern consumerism. It critically examines the pervasive cultural construction of reproduction as a medical event laden with risk which is in need of technological management. Designed as a course reader for society & risk, maternity & midwifery and nursing & culture courses, this special issue juxtaposes policy and professional debates about 'risk management' with social theoretical analyses following Ulrich Beck's 'Risk Society' (1992) constructs.
A useful addition to all health science and sociology libraries, Childbirth, Politics & the Culture of Risk (ISBN 0-9775242-5-6) furthers discourse on Beck's view (1992) that environmental, economic and health dilemmas have become permanent backgrounds to our everyday life in societies with advanced industrialization. The choice and flexibility claimed to characterise risk culture present new dilemmas for childbearing women and their partners. Both caregivers and parents have to deal with new knowledge, responsibilities and anxieties. Access to information and effective decision-making varies, however, and options remain constrained by forms of professional power institutionalised in the maternity care system. This issue contributes valuable peer-reviewed insights to policy and practice of conception, pregnancy and childbirth.
A special issue of Health Sociology Review - indexed in
Thomson ISI Science Citation Index/Social Sciences
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