Normative value of approaches to the study of procreation

The article analyzes the approaches and methods used when studying procreation, which is understood to mean human reproduction in the value-based aspects. The latest trends in childbearing are becoming the subject of not only demography but also various studies in social sciences and humanities. In scientific and mundane discourses, the term «reproduction» prevails in the designation of procreation. The concept of «procreation» is appropriate to use in the axiological approach since it contains an indication of the ways of understanding (description, cognition, designation in language and discourse) human reproduction included in the process of creation, not production, of man. The emphasis on the value-semantic determinism of procreation allows us to note the correlation what and how is studied about childbearing and the way the obtained knowledge affects reproductive aspirations and intentions. There are distinguished pronatal and antenatal orientations in the methodological approaches to the study of modern procreative processes. Procreative understanding is associated with a pronatal position in the motivation and social regulation of childbearing. The author concludes about normative value of different approaches and methods in research for procreation. Scientific discourse normalizes the perception of the latest trends in the childbearing area. The article indicates that qualitative methods in the study of procreation are in demand since they allow one to describe the dynamic and subjective moments in its phenomena and do not lay claim to the universality of the established patterns, which corresponds to the recognition of cultural conditioning and value-based dependence in demographic processes. The paper critically assesses the idea of universality of rationalization criteria in the study of childbirth, which is widespread among demographers. When proceeding from the idea of a value-based determination of procreation, it is necessary to take into account and normalize irrational factors in the motivation of childbearing.