The concept of parenthood and the idea of a family have always been private and personal. But with the onset of globalization over the past few decades, we have let technology interfere into our personal matters. In this essay, we will look at the cross-cultural perception on parenthood with reference to designer babies and changing family structures in urban India. With the help of in-depth interviews and micro-analysis, this study will also examine the relationship between intimacy and technology.

Background

The family structure has drastically changed over the past few decades. During the mid 20^th century the idea of a joint family was very popular. Thus we could see many families living together in one large house. This idea was more popular amongst Asian countries in comparison to western countries, as in Asian societies, culture, traditions, and family are given more importance whereas, in western countries, people are taught to mostly live an individualistic lifestyle in a very competitive society. But due to globalization and the exchange of ideas, the point family stricture started to disintegrate and was replaced with the nuclear family, comprising of a father, a mother and their unmarried children. With this, the ideas of parenting also changed as now the parent's primary concern was the well being of their children and not of the whole joint family, which mostly included aging grandparents.

With new movements and revolutions such as the feminist movement in the 1960s, parents became a lot more liberal in their views and the children also got a lot more independent. Thus we can say that marriage and family patterns have changed worldwide in the 21^st century. The above statement is backed up by Therborn, a professor of sociology at Cambridge University, who states that “ the combination of increasing rates of divorce, high remarriage rates and more people living alone seems to disprove the thesis of a convergence of family structures, even in the west.” ( Giddens 2009, p.337)  nowadays we can see new family patterns emerging such as live-in relationships, same-sex marriages, and single parents.

With society nowadays is more and more dependent on technology, we have let it interfere with our most intimate parts of our lives, such as our children. For example, parents are giving their young ones access to play on their smartphone, for the purpose of keeping them quiet or busy. Technology has also now play a very important part in the reproductive process, with many couples opting for methods such as in-vitro fertilization ( IVF )or surrogacy rather than the traditional method of coitus. The latest technological development that has taken place in this area is designer babies. A designer baby is a baby that is genetically engineered for the purpose of having some specific traits that are chosen by their parents, such as the gender of the bay, or the color of the eyes and the height of the baby. In this essay, we will if designer babies would be a proper fit for the current society.

Literature review

 There has been a lot of studies that have been done on designer babies, with many perceiving designer babies for the better and the well being of the society and the family while on the other hand, there are a few articles who have noted the cons of designer babies by focusing on the moral and the ethical aspects which would involve not only the parents and the people involved in the process but also the baby itself. As no particular stand is being taken here, this study incorporates the views of both the sides of the debate. Also, as this study deals with changing views on parenthood and family pattern along with technology and its effect on the process of reproduction, this study will analyze the articles written by authors who have a background in sociology as well as authors who have a background in bioethics and stem cell research.

As we have seen earlier in this essay, we have taken a small section on families and intimate relationships in Anthony Giddens book, Sociology 6^th edition,  to analyze the changing relationship patterns and the family structure. This study will also be challenging Durkheim's theory of functionalism, as he values the importance of a stable family, as it could be seen as a necessary building block for the proper functioning of the society. But with the introduction of designer babies, the relationship between the parents and the designer baby, and the relationship between the parents and a normal baby might be different. This could threaten Durkheim's idea of a ‘stable’ family and thus could harm the society in the future.  This essay will also be analyzing the texts of various authors such as Julian Savulescu, who is a bioethicist and is in favor of the introduction of designer babies, including a culmination of texts from various journal such as ‘ The Scientific American’. Also, as this is a cross-cultural study, and opinions on career-inclined women having children were also included in the questionnaire, information on maternity leave in China and Italy has also been taken.

In addition to these articles, this study will also include a critical analysis of two Hollywood movies- Gattaca ( 1997) and Hannah ( 2011). The inclusion of these two movies is due to their plot, which sets in a futuristic society where designer babies are being used and are being preferred over normal babies. The proper relation between these movies and the theme of this paper will be mentioned in the findings. Even though a lot of studies have been done on designer babies, very few have focused on the socialization of the designer babies. As this study is focused on the latter part, it is different from the rest of the studies that have been conducted.

Methodology

The current study adopts a qualitative approach in order to understand the cross-cultural perception of parenthood with reference to designer babies. As the study was qualitative, the respondents were chosen by non-probability sampling methods such as the snowball sampling method. Some of the respondents were mutual friends of the author.

 A total of 6 people were interviewed- 3 men and 3 women. An even number of respondents of each gender was taken in order to avoid gender bias. Of the three women who were interviewed- two of them belonged to BA 2^nd year and the other one belonged to MA 1^ST year. In the case of men- one was from BA 2^ND year and two were from MA 2^ND year. The reason for this differentiation was to understand if age played a factor in perceiving and understanding the questions in the current context. The interviews were conducted over the space of two days and each of the interviews was done in an empty classroom in order to avoid any bias or influence.

 As this is a cross-cultural study, two of the women were from foreign countries- one was from Thailand and the other was from Italy. Another reason for choosing a respondent from Italy was that designer baby is a western concept and the designer baby was developed and the advancement in that field is happening primarily in western countries. The rest of the respondents were from all over the country. The other female respondent was from Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu). The other three male respondents were from Chennai ( Tamil Nadu), Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), and  Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) respectively. Thus this study has incorporated many different cultures.

Information was taken from the respondents through an in-depth interview. The interview was a semi-structured interview with both open-ended and close-ended questions. The major themes of the questionnaire are as follows:

Part 1- ( Socio-demographic facts)- focuses on the demographic information of the respondents

Part 2-  ( Parenting)- focuses on the change in parenting styles over the past few decades

Part 3- ( Technology, morality and designer babies)- focuses on the technological aspect and also     the moral and ethical values involved in the process of designing babies

Part 4 -  ( society and designer babies)- focuses on the impact that designer babies will have on the society

It should be noted that a consent form was signed prior to the start of the interview by each of the respondents and one copy of the form was given to them. The respondents were also given a chocolate at the end of the interview as a reward for participating in the study. After all the interviews were taken, the deductive method was used to analyze the major findings in this study.

Key findings

Change in parenting styles

There have been many studies that show that the overall parenting structure has changed worldwide over the past few decades. ( Giddens 2009, p. 337) As we will be using the above statement as a theory to use the deductive method, the respondents were asked if they could notice a shift in parenting styles by comparing their generation with the older generation. Following are me of the quotes by some of the respondents-

 Yeah, I think it has changed like now parents start having babies later. If I take the example of my mom, she already had me when she was my age, but now a lot of people they plan to have kids in their thirties. ( female respondent 1, aged 24, the location of her home- Italy)

Do I think that the perception of parenting has changed? For me, no. In my family, no, I don’t think so. Even in my society, nothing has changed ( female respondent 2, aged 30, the location of her home – Thailand)

 I mean obviously, it has changed, in the sense that, how as and when we get exposed to more opportunities which we didn’t have previously. I think that the perceptions of the way the parents wanted their children to grow have also changed as they are more liberal and open-minded. ( male respondent 1, aged 19, the location of their his home- Chennai)

  Yes, it has changed. It might have changed in terms of how family itself is constituted because it is a general notion that there were previously joint families.  if there was any work that individual of the family had then it would be related to the family. But now as the opportunities have become so vast that your child might just want to go somewhere else because that work could be more rewarding. So I think this is why nuclear families have come about. ( male respondent 2, aged 24, the location of his home- Andhra Pradesh)

As we can see from the first two quotations, there are differences that need special attention. From the perspective of the first respondent, she has clearly stated that the perceptions of parenthood have changed, while for the second respondent, nothing has changed. A lot can be understood from their social context.  Societies in Italy are a lot different from societies in Thailand, as societies in the west are more developed as compared to those in the east. Development should not be understood only in terms of technology, but also in terms of having more liberal ideas about society. Thus we can see the effect of liberal movements such as the feminist movement in Italy, where more and more women are working, as compared to Thailand, where a more oppressive society still exists. One must also realize that most societies in the west are more predominant towards the idea of individualism while most societies in the east are more inclined towards family, culture, and traditions. This could be another reason why there is pressure on people to start a family in eastern societies while in the west, people are more liberal and thus are willing to start a family later on in their lives.

Even though our society is more close-minded than those of the west, that does not mean progress has not been made. This has been made clear by the second male respondent as has pointed out that the general trend of a joint family system has changed and has paved the way for nuclear families. This change in family pattern can also bring with itself changes in ideas. This goes with what the first male respondent was saying as parents are becoming more liberal in their views. With this, we can say that with more and more having liberal views, these views will pass on to their children. Thus we can say by analyzing the responses that the parental style has changed in many of the societies. The reason why this is categorized as the first finding was to connect it with the overall theme of the paper, as designer babies can be considered as a radical change, and so we wanted to understand how these liberal or non- liberal views would affect in perceiving and then later on accepting or rejecting the idea of designer babies being incorporated into the society.

The sibling relationship between a designer baby and a natural baby

There have been a few studies which show that sometimes parents design babies in order to take their bone marrow or blood to treat their terminally ill child ( Sheldon and Wilkinson 2004) In these cases, the designer baby is also known as the savior sibling. In order to understand how this would affect the relationship between the two siblings, the respondents were asked their opinion. The following are their responses on the subject matter-

I think the brother will feel a big responsibility because he will feel that I am here to save my elder brother’s life, especially when they are children and don’t exactly understand what is going on. It might get a little complicated but it is not a negative thing. ( female respondent 1, aged 24, single child)

I think there will be a lot of pressure on the elder sibling to take care of his sibling, because he has gotten something out of his younger brother, without his consent also. I don’t know, I think there will be a lot of guilt. If it was me I would definitely feel a lot of guilt because of the realization that my brother was created just so that we could get a part out of him to save myself ( female respondent 3, aged 20, 2 younger siblings)

I think it will bring them closer if not anything in a way because family is also seen in a way where they help you in your thick and thin times and there are some difficulties in life where if there are one group of people whom you can count on, it’s your family ( male respondent 1, aged 19, has 2 elder siblings including a twin brother)

I don’t really know if the parents would be able to love this designer baby as much as their own child because they got their designer baby in the first place to sort of cure their own child. Just the fact that you have a new member in your family because of a particular purpose, or you got that baby for an end, is problematic for the entire family. When we talk about the relationship between the siblings, I really really hope that this happens at a young age so that they don’t know that one was designed and one is not. Even if the designer baby gets to know that they designed him in the first place to cure their child, so how will he look at his parents. He may start feeling self-hatred ( male respondent 3, aged 24, single child)

We can see from the responses above that there are mixed reviews on the sibling relationship. Thus we can see that for some the elder sibling should feel guilty and should feel responsible for their younger sibling, while on the other hand, some feel that the younger sibling should feel responsible for saving the life of his elder sibling. Here there is a conflict of moral issues. Both male respondent 1 and male respondent 3 talk about family and the views of the parents respectively. Even if we look at this case through the perspective of the designer child, there will conflicting report. On the one hand, parents designing a baby to save their child’s life could be interpreted as “ the parents are willing to conceive another child to protect the first suggests that they are highly committed to the well-being of their children and that they will value the second child for its own sake as well.” (  Sheldon and Wilkinson 2004, p.536) On the other hand, the child may suffer from psychological harm, considering the fact that she was brought into this world, not for himself/ herself, but to be used as a means to save someone else.

As previously mentioned in the literature review, the movie Gattaca ( 1997) has been watched and a critical analysis has been done. The movie has a futuristic setting, where designer babies have more or less become a common thing. The protagonist, Vincent, is a naturally born child, or as they are referred to in the movie- an ‘invalid’. He then gets a younger brother, Anton, who is a designer baby. He is much smarter and taller than Vincent and is more loved by their parents. Due to this, Vincent has always been envious of his younger brother and is always in competition with him. Also, due to a lack of support, while chasing his dreams, Vincent chose to abandon his home, as he was an invalid and was told not dream high. There is also a class divide between those who have been specifically designed and those who are invalid ( naturally born). Thus even in a Hollywood movie, designer babies have been portrayed as leading to a dystopian world where designer babies are being preferred and are given more priority by the society, which includes parents.

Even though the debate against designer babies and savior siblings is more or less similar, there is still a stark difference between them. The cause for a savior sibling is for it to save an existing child’s life. But the exact same cannot be said for a designer baby as they are only chosen for superficial reasons, such as determining the gender of the baby, the height or even the color of the eyes. Also, there have been a few studies regarding the welfare of the child ( Sheldon and Wilkinson 2004) There are moral aspects involved around the future of the savior sibling, as there could be cases where after the tissue is taken from the savior sibling that is needed for saving the existing child, it is discarded as there is no more use for it.

The effect of designer babies on career inclined women.

With society becoming more and more liberal by breaking social stereotypes and gender roles, more and more women are entering the workplace. So we can see that a lot of women are putting their careers ahead of starting a family. With designer babies being a lot more cooperative and requiring a lot less attention, the respondents were asked whether career inclined women would prefer designer babies over normal babies. The following are their responses-

If you think that you need to focus on your job, then why have a baby at all. That is because life has to follow this process and the beauty of life is that you are born and you need to grow up. There won’t be a point in raising the baby, because the baby is already raised ( female respondent 1, aged 24, home – Italy )

When you say women don’t have time for baby and giving birth and stuff,  then maybe we can change the law that for pregnant women they can have left for a long time because, in China, it is maybe like 1 month or 2 months. The side effect of this is that then the employer does not want to give work to women. ( female respondent 2, aged 30, home- Thailand)

Yeah, I think, designer babies on a large scale can change the way society works. For example, there are sociologists that say that the family structure is what revolves and what makes them the society, and if these babies can change the way the family works in a more efficient way, then the society would a be more efficient and a more productive one ( male respondent 1, aged 19, home- Chennai)

One very important aspect that is related to working woman and childbirth is maternity leave. There is no one standard maternity leave and the duration of the leave ranges from country to country. After analyzing the maternity leave in both China and Italy ( Saurel-Cubizolles, Romito,  Escribà-Agüir, LeLong, Pons, Ancel 1999) ( Deng, He, Horrigan, Miao, Ning, Pang, Tevini, Wang, Warren 2012), we have found out that the social context plays a very important role in determining the maternity leave. As female respondent 2 mentioned, the maternity leave given to women is a lot less than what is given in western countries. This shows the existence of patriarchy in countries like China, where maternity leave is not given much consideration due to the fact that not many women are allowed to work. On the other hand, in countries like Italy, the maternity leave is around 22 weeks, where a woman can use those 22 weeks before the child is born and also after the child is born.  This shows how eastern countries like China and Thailand lack in encouraging women to enter the workplace, as compared to their western counterparts. In the case of male respondent 1, the fact that he has a positive attitude towards women having designer babies in order to focus on their work also stems from his background. This is because he is from Chennai ( Tamil Nadu), which is more of a matriarchal society instead of a patriarchal society. Therefore in that region, more women entering the workforce would be seen as women empowerment, and not be looked down at.

Another point raised by female respondent 1 was that “ There won’t be a point in raising he baby, because the baby is already raised.” This response is very important because this challenges the idea of parenthood itself, as the term implies that as a parent, you have to raise the child and that you need to be responsible for the child. Another quote from male respondent 3 was that -

“I would not go for designer babies because then the entire charm of it being your baby goes away. I mean, are you looking forward to having a new member in your family or are you looking forward to having a new product in your family? Do you want to be a parent or a product manager? (male respondent 3, aged 24, home- Madhya Pradesh)

Thus we can see that the whole idea of being a parent is being substituted by them being referred to as a production manager and the designer baby as just a product.  So, from the above quotation, we can understand that the entire process of becoming a parent has shifted from a baby being born and bought up naturally to a baby being designed by picking the traits wanted by the parents, and the baby being ‘made to order’ like any other product. ( Walker 2008, p.351)

We started this study by giving a brief background on how the family pattern has changed over the last few decades from being a joint family system to a nuclear family, and then to recent trends such as live-in relationships and same-sex marriages. We also understood how the advancement of technology, our personal lives have become a lot less private and more dependent on technology. Our literature review consisted of a few academic articles to a couple of movies from Hollywood that fitted into the general theme of the study. The methodology used for this essay was a semi-structured interview and the number of people interviewed was 6, of different ethnic backgrounds. The interview contained various themes ranging from the respondent's socio-demographic information to the effect of designer babies on the society. After performing a micro-analysis on how designer babies would affect intimate relations such as that of parents and siblings, the study shows that the majority of the respondents would agree that designer babies will violate the privacy of the family and would also breach and question some moral and ethical values. This paper hopes to have contributed to the existing intellectual scholarship of sociology.

BIBLIOGRAPHY-

 Deng, Ying and Jing He, Brenda Horrigan, Qingqing Miao, Susan Ning, Wesley Pang, Anna Tevini, Chang Wang, Adria Warren. 2012. “China”. The International Lawyer. 46: 517-535

Giddens. Anthony. 2009. Sociology 6^th edition. New Delhi: Wiley India Pvt. Ltd

Saurel-Cubizolles, Marie-Josèphe, and Patrizia Romito, Vicenta Escribà-Agüir, Nathalie Lelong, Rosa Mas Pons, Pierre-Yves Ancel. 1999. “Returning to Work after Childbirth in France, Italy, and Spain”. European Sociological Review. 15: 179-194

Sheldon, S and S. Wilkinson. 2004. “Should Selecting Saviour Siblings Be Banned?”. Journal of Medical Ethics. 30: 533-537

Walker. Mark. 2008. “ "Designer Babies" and Harm to Supernumerary Embryos”. American Philosophical Quarterly. 45: 349-364