Wie konzipieren wir Kinderkriegen?

Abstract

How do couples come to have children? The first response that comes to mind is that pregnancies result from sexual intercourse and fertilization. Studies in the social sciences, however, reduce pregnancies to the (rational) decision-based action of couples: "fertility intentions" induce the corresponding "fertility behavior." Rational choice theory and cognitive psychology constitute the theoretical basis for this kind of model construction. This article challenges these approaches. Not only do they leave aside actual pathways to parenthood in all their empirical complexity. They also idealize these processes normatively and miss the logic of "having a child" as a social practice. Based on narrative interviews, we present a praxiologically oriented analysis which includes actors as well as their bodies and the artefacts involved in the process. This reveals that the way a couple deals with the topic is interwoven with the bodily and sexual dimension of their relationship as participants progressively come to anticipate themselves as parents.