Metropolitan mothers: Mothers, mothering and paid work (original) (raw)

Childcare, choice and social class: Caring for young children in the UK

Critical Social Policy, 2008

This paper draws on the results of two qualitative research projects examining parental engagements with the childcare market in the UK. Both projects are located in the same two London localities. One project focuses on professional middle class parents, and the other on working class families, and we discuss the key importance of social class in shaping parents" differential engagement with the childcare market, and their understandings of the role childcare plays in their children"s lives. We identify and discuss the different "circuits" of care (Ball et al 1995) available to and used by families living physically close to each other, but in social class terms living in different worlds. We also consider parents" relationships with carers, and their social networks. We conclude that in order to fully understand childcare policies and practices and families" experiences of care, an analysis which encompasses social class and the workings of the childcare market is needed.

Middle Class Fractions, Childcare and the ‘Relational’ and ‘Normative’ Aspects of Class Practices

The Sociological Review, 2004

The emphasis in class research remains on the structural aspects of class, class processes are neglected. This paper focuses upon some relational and normative aspects of class through an examination of social divisions produced and constructed within middle class families' choices of childcare. Working with data from two contrasting settings in London (Battersea and Stoke Newington) three issues are addressed in the paper; the extent to which childcare arrangements both substantively and structurally position children differently within long term educational careers; the ways in which the use of choice in a market system of child care and education, works to produce patterns of social closure that quietly discriminate via the collectivist criterion of class and racial membership; and the ways in which child care choices also point-up and perpetuate subtle distinctions and tensions of values and lifestyle within the middle class, between class factions. Concepts drawn from the w...

The social geography of childcare: making up a middle‐class child

British Journal of Sociology of Education, 2004

Childcare is a condensate of disparate social forces and social processes. It is gendered and classed. It is subject to an excess of policy and political discourse. It is increasingly a focus for commercial exploitation. This is a paper reporting on work in progress in an ESRC funded research project (R000239232) on the choice and provision of pre‐school childcare by

Working-Class Mothers’ School Involvement: A Class-Specific Maternal Ideal?

Recent ideological shifts, along with budgeting constraints, have made parental involvement in the schooling process necessary. Such expectations have increased the toll on working-class mothers, who now have to assume responsibility in three time-consuming areas: child care at home, school involvement and labor market participation. In analyzing how mothers deal with this threefold expectation, research has focused on class-specific maternal ideals and practices, but rarely directed systematic attention to how these concurrent expectations shape the maternal ideals they embrace. Moreover, few studies have examined how mothers’ maternal ideals shape their employment interruptions. The current paper considers how working-class mothers rationalize the maternal ideals they embrace with regard to school involvement and examines how they negotiate them vis-à-vis other possible maternal ideals. Interviews of 48 Israeli low income mothers reveal that educational success is consensually perceived as critical for maximizing life chances and that this understanding evolved from the gradual realization that school involvement through extensive mothering – where women rely on others to meet their children’s schooling needs – must be replaced by school involvement through intensive mothering – namely, personal presence-based nurturing. We draw some implications relevant to the debate over class-based maternal ideals.

Mothers, work and childcare : choices, beliefs and dilemmas

2010

This thesis, Mothers, Work and Childcare: Choices, Beliefs and Dilemmas asks two questions: What factors are women in England likely to need to take into consideration when making employment decisions and childcare choices when their babies are under twelve months of age? What importance, if any, do mothers place on having carers in day care settings who `love' their children? The thesis begins by introducing the context and rationale for the study, including 21St century policies in England to encourage mothers to return to the workforce (HMT, 2004). A critical review of the literature explores three key themes: An historical overview of women in the workforce in the UK; Attachment Theory, and Policy perspectives in England since 1989. The thesis then discusses and justifies its life historical exploration of six mothers' decision-making about work and childcare. A four-staged process of meaning- making is used to analyse and interpret the women's life stories which are...

Families and children 2001: Work and childcare

This report examines the working patterns of British families and their use of childcare. It is one of four reports based on analysis of data from the 2001 Families and Children Study. Other reports cover incomes and living standards, and the Working Families' Tax Credit. This research was carried out by the Policy Studies Institute.

‘I’m so much more myself now, coming back to work’ – working class mothers, paid work and childcare

Journal of Education Policy, 2008

This paper explores the ways in which working class mothers negotiate mothering and paid work. Drawing on interviews with 70 families with pre-school children, we examine how caring and working responsibilities are conceptualised and presented in mothers' narratives. Mothers showed a high degree of commitment to paid work and, in contrast to findings from an earlier study with middle class and professional mothers, did not feel that keeping their children at home with them was always the best option for the children. We suggest that working class mothers in the labour market remain at risk of being defined as inadequate mothers because of a middle class emphasis on intense maternal engagement with the child as a key aspect of 'good' mothering.