Hadley Robin A, Mumford Clare, Carroll Michael, Wilkinson Krystal
Department of Life Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Institute for Research Into Organisations, Work and Employment, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom.
Front Sociol. 2025 Aug 4;10:1608368. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1608368. eCollection 2025.
The workplace encompasses structural and personal tensions related to both reproduction and non-reproduction, as well as ambiguity and ambivalence permeate policies, practices, and social interactions. The aim of this study was to explore and record participants' diverse fertility journeys and the effect of work on their preconception/infertility experience.
The concept of "reproductive capital" emerged from a latent thematic analysis of semi-structured bio-narrative interviews with 80 people (67 women and 13 men) and their accounts of how the workplace affected their reproductive journeys.
The workplace was an alienating space for people accessing Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) treatment, who were subjected to scrutiny and judgment. The challenges faced by individuals included matters surrounding disclosure and subsequent consequences, desired/expected support, and what was received. Some participants challenged the pronatalist policy status quo and sought change to make the workplace more inclusive. Participants' accounts highlighted numerous situations in which reproductive capital was present.
Contextualizing theory through empirical data allows for a broader understanding of how socio-economic, socio-cultural, norms, and values influence individual and organizational behavior. This article critically examines the concept of "reproductive capital" and its interaction with other forms of capital: aging, biological, cultural, economic, social, and symbolic.
工作场所存在与生育和非生育相关的结构性和个人紧张关系，政策、实践及社会互动中也充斥着模糊性和矛盾性。本研究旨在探索并记录参与者多样的生育历程以及工作对他们孕前/不孕经历的影响。
“生殖资本”这一概念源于对80人（67名女性和13名男性）进行的半结构化生物叙事访谈的潜在主题分析，以及他们关于工作场所如何影响其生育历程的叙述。
对于接受辅助生殖技术（ART）治疗的人来说，工作场所是一个疏离的空间，他们会受到审查和评判。个人面临的挑战包括与披露相关的问题及后续后果、期望/预期的支持以及实际得到的支持。一些参与者对生育主义政策现状提出质疑，并寻求变革以使工作场所更具包容性。参与者的叙述突出了许多存在生殖资本的情况。
通过实证数据将理论置于具体情境中，有助于更广泛地理解社会经济、社会文化、规范和价值观如何影响个人及组织行为。本文批判性地审视了“生殖资本”这一概念及其与其他形式资本（衰老资本、生物资本、文化资本、经济资本、社会资本和象征资本）的相互作用。
