Birth by design : pregnancy, maternity care, and midwifery in North America and Europe

Review Through their comparative and multi-leveled analyses, the editors and contributors remind readers that while birth is a natural physiological phenomenon, our understandings of birth, the birthing process, and how and from whom mothers should receive maternity care are culturally based and are continually constructed and reconstructed. By re-focusing our attention on birth outcomes as women's experiences and the reproduction of societies and culture, the editors and contributors of Birth by Design do problematize all contexts of maternity care, and by doing so, challenge birthing mothers, caregivers, and policy makers in our thinking about the birthing process.. –Canadian Journal of Sociology Online (CJS Online), March - April 2002 Product Description This collection brings together the leading research in maternity care from the United States, Canada and Europe to discuss systems of care for pregnancy and childbirth. The essays focus on the practical side of ''good'' social science and ''feminist-friendly'' research. The text not only looks at maternity, but also the act of childbirth, with the goal of providing not just comparative perspectives of care, but also to integrate the differences in care within each essay for a truly international understanding of maternity care. This book is a collection of original essays on the meaning of providing care. These essays address not only the work of caring for the elderly, but also the work of caring for children, the infirm and those with disabilities. The essays approach the topic from an ethical standpoint and also from a more practical, feminist and sociological point of view. The main goal of this book is to re-conceive the notion of care work, beginning with steps as simple as replacing the phrase 'caregiver' with the phrase 'care worker' This collection of essays contains leading research in maternity care from Europe, the United States and Canada to discuss systems of care for pregnancy and childbirth. Birth By Design focuses on the practical side of 'good' social science research. This is a ground-breaking work that looks not only at maternity, but also the act of childbirth. This collection brings together the leading research in maternity care from the United States, Canada and Europe to discuss systems of care for pregnancy and childbirth. A groundbreaking work which provides a truly international understanding This collection brings together the leading research in maternity care from the US, Canada, and Europe to discuss systems of care for pregnancy and childbirth. A groundbreaking work which gives a truly international understanding For feminist writers of the 1970s, maternity care, with its medicalized and alienating approach to birth, was an apt illustration of women's oppression by patriarchal social structures. First published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.