About this site

Welcome to my site. My friends and I created this to share some of my work and - more importantly - to invite an exchange of ideas.


I've been a sociologist for a long time. and ventured into a number of different fields over the years: birth and midwifery (which I still think of as my home base); the new genetics and reproductive technologies; medical sociology; bioethics; issues in disability; adoption; race; and now food studies too. Some of you might know my work in one of these areas, others in a different area. What would be really interesting would be to have people talk, with each other and with me, across areas. I've tried, with some success over the years, to talk to midwives about genetics; to encourage people who do new reproductive technologies to think about home birth; to have bioethicists pay more attention to what medical sociology can offer; to get people in Food Studies thinking where midwifery issues overlap with their concerns. These are invariably the most fun and stimulating conversations I've ever been a part of. Connecting people, connecting ideas, weaving the webs that pull us together - nothing could make me happier. So this site, a gift from my friends, is my place to do this kind of weaving.


We've grouped my work by area - but please, if you're here because you have gotten anything useful out of my work in one area, do poke around for a minute in another. Bring your insights and wisdom and experience to a new place, a new issue. Let's see what we can weave together.


- Barbara Katz Rothman

Thoughts on the state of Sociology

I've done two reviews for CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY, the journal of book reviews published by the American Sociological Association, that seem to go together. They are both reviews of memoir-like compilations of work by two major senior figures in Sociology. It is rather odd, at this stage of things, to be the younger person reviewing the more senior, looking back at a life and a career. One of these was very hard to do: Peter Berger was one of the sociologists whose work shaped me, made me understand the world or maybe more accurately reflected back at me the way I was understanding the world and made that legitimate. Neil Smelser was more of a 'background' figure for me, someone whose work is clearly important in shaping Sociology, but not in shaping my sociology. All in all, reading these books has reinforced my decision never ever to write a memoir!

The Berger review can be found here, and the Smelser review here.