Reproductive Technologies: A New Terrain for the Sociology of Technology

Abstract

It is an established assumption within some quarters of the sociology of technology (see Touraine, 1971; Bell, 1973; Gorz, 1982) that Western societies are becoming ‘post-industrial’ or ‘leisure’ societies. Such claims are based, to some degree, on assessments of the social implications of a particular set of technological changes in the mode of production. The essays in this book are concerned with a different set of transformations in technology — those in the domain of human reproduction. Some would say that the technological innovations in this realm in recent years have constituted a ‘reproductive revolution’, ushering in a new era which might be labelled ‘the age of the test-tube-baby’ or ‘the age of biotechnology’. My own sense of the continuities in the history of medical and scientific interventions into reproduction make me cautious about such judgements.¹ In any case, it is useful to situate this collection of essays alongside the controversies about the ‘post-industrial’ or ‘leisure’ society. This can help to illustrate the project of this book and to locate it within the sociology of technology more generally.