Reproductive Medicine and the Life Sciences in the Contemporary Economy

Based on an in-depth study of clinics offering assisted fertilization, Reproductive Medicine and the Life Sciences in the Contemporary Economy is the first book to examine the commercialization and commodification of know-how derived from the life sciences, from the point of view of organization theory. Assisted fertilization clinics are more than just places in which medicine is applied in a clinical setting. Changing societal norms, technology, different professions, and a front- and back-office set-up all influence the practices at the clinic. Clinicians actively influence policy-making and the regulatory frameworks that monitor and set the boundaries for their work. Clinics are thus places where individual interests and concerns and social and institutional arrangements intersect. The book emphasizes the critical importance of a socio-material perspective on organization, stressing how material and social resources are always of necessity folded into each other in day-to-day organizing.