Conceiving Risk, Bearing Responsibility: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and the Diagnosis of Moral Disorder - Paperback

by Elizabeth M. Armstrong (Author)

In American society, the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy is considered dangerous, irresponsible, and in some cases illegal. Pregnant women who have even a single drink routinely face openly voiced reproach. Yet fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in infants and children is notoriously difficult to diagnose, and the relationship between alcohol and adverse birth outcomes is riddled with puzzles and paradoxes.

Sociologist Elizabeth M. Armstrong uses fetal alcohol syndrome and the problem of drinking during pregnancy to examine the assumed relationship between somatic and social disorder, the ways in which social problems are individualized, and the intertwining of health and morality that characterizes American society. She traces the evolution of medical knowledge about the effects of alcohol on fetal development, from nineteenth-century debates about drinking and heredity to the modern diagnosis of FAS and its kindred syndromes. She argues that issues of race, class, and gender have influenced medical findings about alcohol and reproduction and that these findings have always reflected broader social and moral preoccupations and, in particular, concerns about women's roles and place in society, as well as the fitness of future generations. Medical beliefs about drinking during pregnancy have often ignored the poverty, chaos, and insufficiency of some women's lives--factors that may be more responsible than alcohol for adverse outcomes in babies and children.

Using primary sources and interviews to explore relationships between doctors and patients and women and their unborn children, Armstrong offers a provocative and detailed analysis of how drinking during pregnancy came to be considered a pervasive social problem, despite the uncertainties surrounding the epidemiology and etiology of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Front Jacket

Finalist, C. Wright Mills Award, Society for the Study of Social Problems

Drinking during pregnancy has come to be considered a pervasive social problem, despite the uncertainties surrounding the epidemiology and etiology of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Sociologist Elizabeth M. Armstrong traces the evolution of medical knowledge about the effects of alcohol on fetal development from nineteenth-century debates about drinking and heredity to the modern diagnosis of FAS and its kindred syndromes. She argues that issues of race, class, and gender have influenced medical findings about alcohol and reproduction and that these findings have always reflected broader social and moral preoccupations--in particular, concerns about a woman's role and place in society. Medical beliefs about drinking during pregnancy have often ignored the poverty, chaos, and insufficiency of some women's lives--factors that may be more responsible than alcohol for adverse outcomes in babies and children.

Armstrong draws attention to some important questions about our perceptions of responsibility for alcohol-related harm sustained during pregnancy . . . I hope that her book will lead to a healthy debate and a more objective ethical, medical, and scientific approach to this field in the future.--Addiction

There is much to admire in Armstrong's account: her clever deconstruction of the advocates' invented history of FAS, her sure-handed discussion of the politics of reproduction, and her often fascinating interview material.--Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

In this well-written book, Armstrong provides an in-depth analysis of fetal alcohol syndrome as a social problem.--American Journal of Sociology

A well-researched, highly readable, and convincing example of the ways in which modern medicine continues to create myths, stigmatize the poor, and pathologize gender.--Social History of Medicine

Elizabeth M. Armstrong is an associate professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University.

--Charles E. Rosenberg, Harvard University "Perspectives in Biology and Medicine"

Back Jacket

Finalist, C. Wright Mills Award, Society for the Study of Social Problems

Drinking during pregnancy has come to be considered a pervasive social problem, despite the uncertainties surrounding the epidemiology and etiology of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Sociologist Elizabeth M. Armstrong traces the evolution of medical knowledge about the effects of alcohol on fetal development from nineteenth-century debates about drinking and heredity to the modern diagnosis of FAS and its kindred syndromes. She argues that issues of race, class, and gender have influenced medical findings about alcohol and reproduction and that these findings have always reflected broader social and moral preoccupations--in particular, concerns about a woman's role and place in society. Medical beliefs about drinking during pregnancy have often ignored the poverty, chaos, and insufficiency of some women's lives--factors that may be more responsible than alcohol for adverse outcomes in babies and children.

"Armstrong draws attention to some important questions about our perceptions of responsibility for alcohol-related harm sustained during pregnancy . . . I hope that her book will lead to a healthy debate and a more objective ethical, medical, and scientific approach to this field in the future."--Addiction

"There is much to admire in Armstrong's account: her clever deconstruction of the advocates' invented history of FAS, her sure-handed discussion of the politics of reproduction, and her often fascinating interview material."--Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

"In this well-written book, Armstrong provides an in-depth analysis of fetal alcohol syndrome as a social problem."--American Journal of Sociology

"A well-researched, highly readable, and convincing example of the ways in which modern medicine continues to create myths, stigmatize the poor, and pathologize gender."--Social History of Medicine

Elizabeth M. Armstrong is an associate professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University.

Author Biography

Elizabeth M. Armstrong is an assistant professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University.