Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2012, 48(1): 85-106 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2012.48.1.04

Biopower and Reproductive Biomedicine: a Conceptual Inspiration for Czech Sociology of Medicine

Lenka Slepičková, Eva Šlesingerová, Iva Šmídová
Fakulta sociálních studií MU, Brno

The article examines the concept of biopower as it relates to contemporary reproductive medicine. It puts forth analytical frames for understanding the ways in which the power and hegemony of modern Western medicine (biomedicine) are applied and negotiated in the field of human reproduction, and it proposes possible uses for such frames in the sociological study of Czech reproductive medicine. It deals mainly with biopower and biopolitics as analytical concepts pertaining to the control and administration of the modern population, governmentality, medicalisation, and authoritative knowledge. The article conceives biomedicine as a sign of the normalisation of modern society, identified with the Western concept of health and illness and the idea of technological progress, and subjects it to critical sociological analysis. It focuses on an analysis of reproductive medicine, a key sphere of biopower. In the context of biopower, analysis of the normative nature of reproductive medicine and its consequences in the wider social space is significant. Such consequences affect intimacy and sexuality, the institute of kinship, heteronormative reproduction, gender identities, and more. The authors' interest in this subject is motivated by the strong connections between reproductive medicine, technology, and the commodification of health and illness. The article also focuses on the methods that Czech sociology has used to date to study this topic. The authors aim to introduce a conceptual approach into Czech sociology of medicine and use it to analytically link the theme of biopower and reproductive medicine.

Keywords: biopower, reproductive biomedicine, medicalization, DNA and embryo manipulation, assisted reproduction, childbirth.

Published: February 1, 2012  Show citation

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Slepičková, L., Šlesingerová, E., & Šmídová, I. (2012). Biopower and Reproductive Biomedicine: a Conceptual Inspiration for Czech Sociology of Medicine. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 48(1), 85-106. doi: 10.13060/00380288.2012.48.1.04
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