Birth as an American Rite of Passage
Robbie Davis-Floyd
Abstract
Why do so many American women allow themselves to become enmeshed in the standardized routines of technocratic childbirth—routines that can be insensitive, unnecessary, and even unhealthy? This book is a second edition of the text. The new preface in this edition makes it clear that the issues surrounding childbirth remain as controversial as ever. The book analyzes the technocratic method of birth, its cultural variations and alternatives, and obstetric training and women's experiences in Western culture. It covers ritual and how it is used in obstetrics, and compares the technocratic and hol ... More
Keywords: American women, technocratic childbirth, technology, obstetric training, Western culture, ritual, obstetrics, paradigms of childbirth, American core values, expertise
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2004 | Print ISBN-13: 9780520229327 |
| Published to California Scholarship Online: May 2012 | DOI:10.1525/california/9780520229327.001.0001 |
