“Parto e classe : análise sociológica dos condicionantes sociais da definição da via de parto em João Pessoa/PB”

Abstract

This final project seeks to understand how social factors, especially social class-related dispositions, influence the definition of delivery method in Brazil. The research is based on the finding that, although the Brazilian cesarean section rate in 2021 was 57%, this percentage reached 81.76% when analyzing only births in private hospitals (SINASC, 2023). The clear difference between surgical delivery rates in the public health system and the supplementary health system suggests the influence of social and institutional constraints, but also of social dispositions associated with class. To understand the problem, the main theoretical frameworks used were Foucault (2011), for his contribution to understanding the power relationship between doctor and patient, and Bourdieu (2011), for his multidimensional understanding of social classes and the involvement of habitus in decision-making. This research used a qualitative approach, conducted primarily through interviews with women from different social classes who gave birth between 2020 and 2025. Through analysis of the interviews, it was possible to understand, based on the social characteristics of the respondents and the meanings they expressed regarding practices related to childbirth—such as institutional aspects of public and private health care, such as the availability or lack of detailed information on delivery routes—and also how the amount of cultural capital and the allocation of differential meanings and symbolic values to different delivery routes across classes influence the definition of this social practice.