Surveillance of risks in everyday life: The agency of pregnant women and its limitations

Abstract

Risk management in pregnant women's everyday lives represents a central feature of the experience of pregnancy. We aim to analyse how the agency of pregnant women and the decisions they make are affected by social influences that reinforce medical norms and moral expectations towards motherhood. With data from a qualitative study conducted in Switzerland, we describe diverging positions on professional norms, distinguishing women who strive to eliminate uncertainty and ensure strict control of the biological development of their pregnancy from women who resist medical norms. Concrete resistance through personal bargaining with the normative framework was reported and justified through a range of arguments, allowing individual representations to match dominant expectations. Concurrently, we highlight the fact that social reinforcement of medical norms and moral expectations regarding proper motherhood limit possible deviations. This study contributes to the analysis of lay strategies towards health risks, emphasizing the articulation of agency and social influences that characterize the extension of risk surveillance in society.