Professor Deborah Lupton

Motherhood, Risk and Responsibility: A Sociological Perspective Professor Deborah Lupton

In contemporary western societies pregnant women and mothers of young children are expected to be both highly aware of risks to their unborn or children and to actively take steps to avoid these risks. Often the needs and wants of the pregnant woman or mother are neglected in the intense focus that is directed on foetal or child wellbeing. They must negotiate being positioned as the subjects of monitoring and surveillance in both public and private domains in which their actions are constantly evaluated in terms of the effects that may have on their unborn or children and whether or not they are achieving the ideals of the 'good mother' and 'reproductive citizen'. 


In this presentation I cast a critical sociological eye on these dimensions of pregnancy and motherhood. I will discuss such aspects as the increasing public image of the unborn, the meanings that are given to the unborn and to children and notions of mothers' roles as the primary nurturers and protectors of their children. These aspects will be placed in their broader social, cultural and political contexts, including the heightened awareness of risk and uncertainty in relation to pregnancy, childbirth and children's health and wellbeing and the increasing role played by digital media technologies in pregnancy and early motherhood. These all have implications for how pregnant women and mothers of young children undertake caring, nutritional and nourishing practices and how they are evaluated in doing so.

Biography

Deborah Lupton (opens in a new window) is Centenary Research Professor in the News & Media Research Centre, Faculty of Arts & Design, University of Canberra. She has published extensively on the sociocultural dimensions of medicine and public health, risk, embodiment, pregnancy and parenting cultures, food and eating, obesity politics and the emotions. Her current research focuses on the digitisation of the unborn and children, critical digital health studies, big data cultures and academic work in the digital era. Her latest books are Medicine as Culture, 3rd edition (2012), Fat (2013), Risk, 2nd edition (2013), The Social Worlds of the Unborn (2013), The Unborn Human (edited, 2013) and Digital Sociology (in press).