ABSTRACT
The sociology of knowledge assumes that all knowledge contents must be reproduced socially. Differentiation between types of knowledge cannot be achieved solely by cognitive structures. The issue of life-world knowledge is most interesting in the search for alternatives to modern science, in particular to the modern natural sciences. The chapter examines the scientization of midwifery: childbirth no longer happens in the context of everyday life, cannot even happen there any longer since knowledge about midwifery has ceased to exist in that context. It also examines the relationship between science and life-world knowledge for those cases where there are sociologically identifiable carriers of both types of knowledge and where the contrast between the two types is a real and not merely a theoretical problem. In Europe the social history of midwives can be divided into four not very sharply separated phases. These phases are: midwifery as solitary aid, as office, as traditional profession, and finally as modern profession.
