Abstract

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Reproduction affects everyone and the reproductive decisions that people make throughout their life are social events reflecting certain values, norms and structures within society. It concerns individuals, significant others, families, health professionals, as well as governments and welfare states. This makes qualitative, quantitative and interdisciplinary research especially relevant, and enables sociologists to bridge the micro-macro divide. Sociology of reproduction is not a new study domain within the sociology of health and illness, but it is however considered as a niche subfield, or often overlooked or even forgotten. A session on this topic invites researchers working in the reproductive field to meet, strengthen their network and exchange research ideas. Because topics concerning reproductive health are often embedded within other subdomains such as gender and health, risk behaviors, welfare states, inequalities and social determinants of health and health policy, services and promotion, other sessions are also of interest to these scholars. This session’s focus will be on different aspects of reproductive life course and its health related outcomes. As such, papers related to the following are welcome: (1) Determinants and consequences regarding men’s and women’s fertility behavior, including research on contraceptive choices, childbearing decision making and assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs); (2) Motherhood and mothering practices, including research on maternal wellbeing and breastfeeding, and fatherhood and fathering practices, including research on paternal wellbeing - issues surrounding both motherhood and fatherhood are closely linked to some key subjects in sociology: social stratification and inequality, migration, mobility and network, the conditions in which birth takes place, and work-family conflict; (3) Prenatal and postnatal health care, with a focus on policy and practice, health professionals and medicalization. The session welcomes papers using different methodological techniques, encourages comparative research - both within and across countries - and research that pays attention to both the micro and macro context.

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Session organizer(s)

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Karen Vanderlinden (BE) – graduated with great distinction as a sociologist at Ghent University in 2013. She is currently employed as a teaching assistant at the Department of Sociology at Ghent University. Her PhD deals with breastfeeding decisions/practices and the way this is influenced by different macro and micro social mechanisms (e.g. policy and governance structure, poverty, ethnicity…). 2 research articles have been published in her field, 1 article has been submitted and, lastly, 2 articles are in its final stages.

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