Who Can Have a Baby? Social Norms and the Right to Reproduce
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17 Jun 2026
16:00-17:30, Lecture Theatre, Nuffield College
- Sociology Seminar Add to Calendar
University of Pennsylvania
Abstract:
In this talk, Professor Marteleto will introduce the innovative DZC project, provide a brief overview of what we’ve already learned from it, and introduce the TSSR—theory of socially stratified reproduction—a framework that systematically explains stratification and discrimination in reproductive and family norms. The theory of socially sanctioned reproduction (TSSR) emphasizes how reproductive norms are shaped by individual and intersectional attributes of both evaluators and those evaluated. Childbearing norms and discourse influence social interactions, policy priorities, and medical practices, reflecting and reinforcing social stratification. She will also present an empirical application of the model using paired conjoint survey experiments with a population-based sample of women ages 18 to 34 in Pernambuco, Brazil—a highly unequal, multiracial context. Data comes from the NICHD-funded DZC project, the first population-based panel of women of reproductive age in Brazil. Findings show how intersectional attributes and in-group/out-group dynamics, principally along race and SES lines, define childbearing norms. Black women receive less approval if in low- versus high-SES positions, whereas White women receive similar levels of approval regardless of SES. Further findings indicate that these discriminatory patterns are shaped by the social attributes of evaluators themselves, suggesting othering and group attachment processes. Marteleto will discuss how the theoretical and empirical frameworks can be extended to study norms in other highly contested areas of reproductive and family life and to other highly unequal contexts. In this talk, Professor Marteleto will introduce the innovative DZC project, provide a brief overview of what we’ve already learned from it, and introduce the TSSR—theory of socially stratified reproduction—a framework that systematically explains stratification and discrimination in reproductive and family norms. The theory of socially sanctioned reproduction (TSSR) emphasizes how reproductive norms are shaped by individual and intersectional attributes of both evaluators and those evaluated. Childbearing norms and discourse influence social interactions, policy priorities, and medical practices, reflecting and reinforcing social stratification. She will also present an empirical application of the model using paired conjoint survey experiments with a population-based sample of women ages 18 to 34 in Pernambuco, Brazil—a highly unequal, multiracial context. Data comes from the NICHD-funded DZC project, the first population-based panel of women of reproductive age in Brazil. Findings show how intersectional attributes and in-group/out-group dynamics, principally along race and SES lines, define childbearing norms. Black women receive less approval if in low- versus high-SES positions, whereas White women receive similar levels of approval regardless of SES. Further findings indicate that these discriminatory patterns are shaped by the social attributes of evaluators themselves, suggesting othering and group attachment processes. Marteleto will discuss how the theoretical and empirical frameworks can be extended to study norms in other highly contested areas of reproductive and family life and to other highly unequal contexts.
The Sociology Seminar Series for Trinity Term is convened by Jasmin Abdel Ghany and Nontokozo Langwenya. For more information about this or any of the seminars in the series, please contact sociology.secretary@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.