Modern Reproductive Medicine between Market and Morality in the Federal Republic of Germany (1970-1990)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hartmut Berghoff
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 396522525

This project analyses about the emergence of reproductive medicine since about 1970 both in the context of an expansion of what was technologically imaginable and feasible and of a growing marketization of medicine. Specifically, the project examines the early stages of the market for reproductive medicine in the Federal Republic between 1970 and 1990, and shows how family planning became a new research and business field during this period through innovations in reproductive medicine. In a first step, the project analyses the specific structure of a new reproduction market in West Germany, with regard to labor and expertise, networks and products, as well as sales and marketing strategies. Secondly, the project will identify central political and professional actors and contextualize them within contemporary public debates, tracing their influence on the change and genesis of this market. It is also necessary to show how conceptions of family and gender have changed in this context. Third, the project will analyze the extent to which such discourses about innovations in reproductive medicine influenced both the perceptions and self-perception of medical practitioners and of their clients and customers. To what degree did they exert an influence on the structure of supply and demand and on social practices in the market for reproductive medicine?

• DFG Programme: Research Grants