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Piaget's <i>Behaviour and Evolution</i> (1976) sought to reconcile the view that organismal adaptiveness – in the form of equilibration – could contribute to human behavioural, cognitive, and epistemic evolution with the prevailing evolutionary orthodoxy of the time. He was particularly concerned to demonstrate that human behaviour, cognition, and knowledge acquisition could be drivers of human evolution. Piaget hypothesised constructive role for organisms in evolution was significantly at variance with the prevailing modern synthesis orthodoxy of his time (and ours). He looked to Conrad Hal Waddington's genetic assimilation as a model for how equilibration could generate evolutionary novelties which become fixed by subsequent evolution. I make two claims. Firstly, that Piaget's appeal to Waddington fails to reconcile his views of human evolution with the modern synthesis. Secondly, the newly emerging agential conception of evolution, in which the purposive activities of organisms are the principal causes of evolution, offers strong support to Piaget's model of "organisational" evolution.

Being pregnant beyond one's estimated due date is a relatively common experience and requires complex decisions about whether to induce labour or wait for spontaneous onset. We report a qualitative study undertaken in the UK in 2016. We interviewed fifteen women and eleven more took part in an online focus group. Using thematic analysis, resistance to the medicalisation of prolonged pregnancy was identified as a strong theme. Drawing on the work of Armstrong and Murphy, we identify both conceptual and behavioural resistance in the accounts of women who accepted, delayed or declined induction of labour. Experiential knowledge played a key role in resistance, but women found this was devalued. Some healthcare staff used risk discourse to pressure women to comply with induction protocols but were unwilling to engage in discussion. The social context provided further pressure to produce a baby 'on time', with induction normalised as the way to manage prolonged pregnancy. Online spaces provided additional information and support for women to question the medicalisation of prolonged pregnancy. We end by considering the implications for policies of choice and agency in maternity care as well as the need for additional social support for women who are 'overdue'.

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- About the author -- Acknowledgements -- CHAPTER 1 The crisis in Western childbirth -- Sandy's story -- Global concern -- References -- CHAPTER 2 Introducing birth centres -- The evidence -- Style of care, beliefs and philosophy of birth -- Size -- Introducing a birth centre -- Operational description -- References -- CHAPTER 3 Who owns the women? Setting up the research project -- Why I chose to research a birth centre -- Why I chose ethnography as research method -- Why I chose a postmodernist theoretical position -- What I expected to find when setting up the research -- Being male and doing research in an all-female environment -- Data collection and analysis -- References -- CHAPTER 4 Taking on the system and winning -- Campaigning -- Protecting a legacy -- Factors driving closure -- Challenging authoritative discourses -- Conscientisation -- References -- CHAPTER 5 Transforming people and buildings -- Vision and leadership -- Towards a postmodern organisation -- Transforming buildings -- Make-overs the non-bureaucratic way -- From bureaucracy to second home -- Facilitating nesting -- Dissonance -- References -- CHAPTER 6 Taking labour off the assembly line -- Fordism -- Taylorism -- 'Being' rather than 'doing' -- Altered temporality -- Dissonance -- Hospitality as work -- References -- CHAPTER 7 Building community and social capital -- Deregulated work patterns -- Family friendly -- Deconstructing the work/life split -- Supporting each other -- Dissonance -- Social capital -- References -- CHAPTER 8 Childbirth beyond models -- Negative experience of consultant units -- Moving beyond medicalised birth and the discourse of safety -- Problematising models -- Moving beyond medicalised birth: labour experience -- Moving beyond medicalised birth: labour physiology

This groundbreaking book takes us around the world in search of birth models that work in order to improve the standard of care for mothers and families everywhere. The contributors describe examples of maternity services from both developing countries and wealthy industrialized societies that apply the latest scientific evidence to support and facilitate normal physiological birth; deal appropriately with complications; and generate excellent birth outcomes—including psychological satisfaction for the mother. The book concludes with a description of the ideology that underlies all these working models—known internationally as the midwifery model of care