On Indian Surrogates: Portfolio of Bourdieu’s Capital and
the Emotional Capital
Before discussing the portfolio of capital available to
surrogates , it is pivotal to reiterate the imbalanced impacts the
external structure has on these women, and to acknowledge the formation
of capital of all forms is self-reflexive. Coined with the term
“stratified reproduction” (Colen, 1984; Ginsburg and Rapp, 1995), the
concept depicts how the imbalanced capabilities gained through gendered
power relations often disempower women and empower their male
counterparts in childbearing, nurturing, and education. Alongside social
reproductive tasks, physical contracted pregnancy is also completed,
experienced, and valued differentially due to inequalities embedded in
socioeconomic hierarchies and historical and cultural contexts (Markens,
2007).
Although external structure can be market-based environment that
emphasizes competition and individualism (Hann & Hart, 2011), it can
also serve as socio-cultural framework that creates market sufferation
for individuals (Zaloom, 2006) and specifically deepens Marx’s
alienation on reproductive labour (Oliver, 1989). Thus, the
instrumentality against external structure carried by surrogates
(Goslinga-Roy, 2000) constrains the convertibility of economic, social,
and cultural capital.