In vitro fertilization is a process in which a sperm and an egg are united outside the body and subsequently implanted in a uterus. In vitro fertilization gained traction in the 1970s; in fact, the first test baby conceived in vitro was born in 1978. There are many ways and reasons why people make use of in vitro fertilization:
You may be wondering, “What does in vitro have to do with sociology?” It actually has a lot to do with sociology because in vitro fertilization touches upon ideas of cultural lag. It is a new technology, but culturally, how is it used effectively? There are certain ethical concerns that arise with in vitro fertilization, and it is important to culturally devise ways to use it ethically.
One way is to put up limitations on the use of this technology in response to the development of the technology, which is an example of cultural lag.
There are several social and cultural effects of in vitro fertilization technology:
IN CONTEXT
A Ph.D. student who studied sperm banks in California presented a paper at an anthropology conference in which she found that some sperm banks on the cutting edge of the ethical boundaries were profiling the looks of the donors. It was possible for a woman to come in and choose a sperm donor who looked like a certain celebrity, based upon donor profiles. Apparently, the top choices for women were Ben Affleck, Brett Favre, and Orlando Bloom.
This immediately raises a whole host of moral and ethical concerns:
- Should society allow these developments?
- Should this kind of activity be supported?
- Is it ethical that a super-class of babies can be designed by those who have the money to do so?
These are very interesting questions, and are the reasons why this issue is studied sociologically. Technologies like in vitro fertilization are fascinating moral boundary pushers, meaning that first the technologies develop, and in turn society has to develop a response to deal with these technologies and decide how they can be used. This is cultural lag in action, and sociologists have done thought-provoking studies around how the social construction of morality develops around new technologies like in vitro fertilization.
Source: This work is adapted from Sophia author Zach Lamb.