The Public Life of the Fetal Sonogram: Technology, Consumption, and the Politics of Reproduction (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780813543642)

In The Public Life of the Fetal Sonogram, medical anthropologist Janelle S. Taylor analyzes the full sociocultural context of ultrasound technology and imagery. Drawing upon ethnographic research both within and beyond the medical setting, Taylor shows how ultrasound has entered into public consumer culture in the United States. The book documents and critically analyzes societal uses for ultrasound such as nondiagnostic "keepsake" ultrasound businesses that foster a new consumer market for these blurry, monochromatic images of eagerly awaited babies, and anti-abortion clinics that use ultrasound in an attempt to make women bond with the fetuses they carry, inciting a pro-life state of mind.

This book offers much-needed critical awareness of the less easily recognized ways in which ultrasound technology is profoundly social and political in the United States today.

Author: Janelle S. Taylor
ISBN-10: 0813543649
ISBN-13: 9780813543642
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Language: English
Published: 09/09/2008
Pages: 222
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.80h x 6.00w x 0.60d