To Start Being….The Anticipation of a Social Role Through Consumption in Life Transition: The Case of the First-Time Pregnancy (original) (raw)
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Women in Transition: Consumption Narratives of First-time Motherhood
ACR North American Advances, 2015
Adopting a life-course perspective, this study reveals four narratives of transition to motherhood and according changes of (non-) consumption patterns that liberate, constrain, support, legitimize, and perfectionize women’s understandings of motherhood as ‘a fairytale’ coming true, as a ‘dual-role narrative’, as ‘temporary motherhood’, or as a ‘turning point’ in life.
Consumption Rituals in the Transition to Motherhood
The acquisition of consumer goods is a significant feature of the transition to motherhood for middle-class women in contemporary US society. The acquisition and arrangement of consumer goods during the transition to motherhood often occurs in ritualized fashion through two prevalent consumption rituals, nesting and gifting. Using data from qualitative, semi-structured interviews with new, firsttime mothers, this article explores the symbolic meanings mothers associate with these consumption rituals. Findings indicate that the rituals facilitated a sense of control and feelings of preparedness for the new role and status of mother, played a significant role in gendering the child, and allowed mothers to create a sense of continuity between their own interests and their children's interests. In all three of these areas, nesting and gifting were conceived as ways of becoming more ''prepared,'' thereby facilitating the transition to becoming a mother. This study provides insight into how consumption helps perpetuate the gender system, both through gendering the child and reinforcing the culture of motherhood.
Current theory on transitional consumption seems to rest on the premises that (1) consumption facilitates role transitions; (2) consumers know how to consume their way through these transitions; (3) consumers are motivated to approach new roles; and (4) consumption solves liminality. This perspective, however, offers an incomplete picture of consumption's role in the management of major life transitions. This article explores the ways in which ambivalence is woven through consumption experiences in times of liminality. It reviews prior research on consumption, role transitions, and ambivalence in the context of women's transition into motherhood. Findings are presented from an international interpretive study of women's consumption experiences during their transition to motherhood. This paper's findings suggest that while consumption can indeed play a positive role during role transitions, it can also, at other times, make transition a complicated, complex and confusing process.
Special Session: Researching Motherhood: Experience, Empowerment and Embodiment
GCB - Gender and Consumer Behavior Volume, 2006
SPECIAL SESSION SUMMARY"motherhood has usually been examined as something that happens to people, and almost never as something that people do." Maushart 1999 Since this conference focuses on gender and consumer behaviour, it seems apt to offer a special session based on a fundamentally gendered consumption experience: that of motherhood. Much has been written in many different literatures about motherhood and identity and how this identity is shaped and moulded over time. However, as Maushart (1999) and others (Smith, 1999a; 1999b) acknowledge, very little has been written about motherhood as experience. Similarly very little has been written about the role consumption plays in women's transition to motherhood. Some embryonic research has been published in recent years (see for example Prothero 2002, Jennings and O'Malley 2003, Carrigan and Szmigin 2004; and O'Malley 2005) and it is hoped this session will contribute to the growing body of knowledge in this area. While Adrienne Rich's (1976) groundbreaking Of Woman Born talked of a distinction between motherhood as experience and motherhood as institution, this special session aims to explore how consumption shapes the experience of new mothers. The
Pregnancy and childbirth: What changes in the lifestyle of women who become mothers?
Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP, 2014
Pregnancy is a period influenced by the interaction of several factors, therefore this study aimed to identify changes in lifestyles due to pregnancy and childbirth in Portuguese and immigrant women in Portugal. This is a qualitative study, using the semi-structured interview, with eighty-two Portuguese and immigrant women. Content analysis was used, with verbatim classification supported by Nvivo 10. It was authorized by an Ethics Commission. Results revealed that the primary changes in lifestyles due to pregnancy were in eating habits (nutrition), daily activity, exposure to danger, sleep and rest patterns, social and family relationships, going out, self-care, work, clothing and footwear, travel, health monitoring and sexual activity and substances consumption. The main change after the birth, manifested by these women, was that their lives began to revolve around their baby.
Buying into motherhood? Problematic consumption and ambivalence in transitional phases
Consumption Markets & Culture, 2010
Buying into motherhood? Problematic consumption and ambivalence in transitional phases The VOICE Group [1] [1] About the author group This article is the result of collective, collaborative research undertaken by members of VOICE Group-VOicing International Consumption Experiences. The members of this group, in alphabetical order, are Andrea Davies