Date of Award

5-1-2024

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Sociology

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Elizabeth Popp Berman

Committee Members

James Zetka, Rajani Bhatia

Keywords

assisted reproductive technology (ART), biomedicalization, infertility, medical market, Taiwan, uncertainty

Subject Categories

Sociology

Abstract

This dissertation studies the utilization of assisted reproductive technology (ART) as an infertility care service in Taiwan. Predominantly grounded in interviews with clinical experts from fertility institutes, including fertility physicians, embryologists, and consultants during 2017 and 2019, along with observation and primary/secondary data analysis, the research demonstrates how uncertainty can be transformed into an “opportunity” for the contemporary capitalist market. The transformation of “reproductive uncertainty” into an opportunity for the burgeoning biomedical market drives the ongoing expansion of infertility care services based on in vitro fertilization (IVF), technoscientific developments in reproductive medicine, and the further biomedicalization of human reproduction.

Included in

Sociology Commons

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