At the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society (APCS) conference in October 2019, I attended the panel entitled ‘Displacements in the mother/daughter relationship’ and was deeply moved by the emotional exposure of Lita, Leslie, Sophie and Marilyn. During the discussion, I asked a question that has plagued my professional life as an English professor and literary scholar anchored by psychoanalysis as both an interpretive discourse and pedagogical tool: How do I deal with the fact that my relationship with my mother still seems to be at the
1 ONE Mothers, daughters and careers Chapter themes Rachel is in her final year at university. She talks about her interest in her mother’s career, growing up with a mother who works relatively long hours out of the home, and how this has influenced her. Her comments illuminate the research question explored in this book, which asks to what extent having a mother with a successful career leads her daughter(s) to want to follow in her footsteps – in terms of both the daughter’s career, and how she thinks about combining work with motherhood. “I’m really
27 TWO Well-mothered daughters? Chapter themes This chapter explores the way the daughters who participated in this research felt about their lived experience of being brought up by a mother with a career who worked relatively long hours outside the home. Lived experience is defined as self-reflexively ascribing meaning to experiences (Van Maanen, 1988). A key finding of this research is that almost all of the 31 daughters felt well mothered. This is their overall assessment and does not preclude occasionally feeling less positive about their mothers and
387 Families, Relationships and Societies • vol 3 • no 3 • 387–403 • © Policy Press 2014 • #FRS Print ISSN 2046 7435 • Online ISSN 2046 7443 • http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/204674314X14037717559163 research Mothers, daughters and sex: the negotiation of young women’s sexuality in Britain and Hong Kong Stevi Jackson, stevi.jackson@york.ac.uk University of York, UK Petula Sik Ying Ho, psyho@hku.hk University of Hong Kong In Western sociology, much has been made of the impact of rapid social change on sexual lives over the last half century, represented as a
Women are encouraged to believe that they can occupy top jobs in society by the example of other women thriving in their careers. Who better to be a role model for career success than your mother? Paradoxically, this book shows that having a mother as a role model, even for graduates of top universities, does not predict daughters progressing in their own careers.
It finds that mothers with careers, whilst highly influential in their daughters’ choice of career path, rarely mentor their daughters as they progress. This is partly explained by ‘quiet ambition’ – the tendency of women to be modest about their achievements. Bigger issues are the twin pressures from contemporary motherhood and workplace culture that ironically lead career women’s daughters to believe that being a ‘good mother’ means working part-time. This stalls career progress.
Based on a large, cross-generational qualitative sample, this book offers a timely and original perspective on the debate about gender equality in leadership positions.
This book addresses the complexity of family change. It draws on evidence from two linked studies, one carried out in the 1960s and the other in the early years of the 21st century, to analyse the specific ways in which family lives have changed and how they have been affected by the major structural and cultural changes of the second half of the twentieth century.
The book shows that, while there has undeniably been change, there is a surprising degree of continuity in family practices. It casts doubt on claims that families have been subject to a process of dramatic change and provides an alternative account which is based on careful analysis of empirical data.
The book presents a unique opportunity to chart the nature of social change in a particular locality over the last 50 years; includes discussions of social and cultural variations in family life, focusing on younger as well as older generations; explores not only what happens within family-households but also what happens within networks of kin across different households and shows the way changing patterns of employment affect kinship networks and how geographical mobility co-exists with the maintenance of strong kinship ties.
The findings will be of interest to students of sociology, social anthropology, social policy, women’s studies, gender studies and human geography at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Despite its familiarity, the realities of care are both complex and contested. This book offers a unique approach to scrutinising the co-existence of both care and abuse in relationships. It demonstrates ways of increasing critical reflexivity when working with people involved in difficult care relationships. The book emphasises that when talking about care, we need to care about talk.
Discourse analysis is introduced as a method of investigating relationships, policy and literature in informal care. Analytic tools are considered alongside case-studies to illustrate how both carer and caree construct their relationship and account for difficulties with each other.
Developing reflective practice is an invaluable resource, employing a unique ‘bottom-up’ approach to learning. Vivid examples of social work practice with children and families are presented, providing real life illustrations of the dilemmas and challenges facing practitioners.
Educators and practitioners provide analytic commentaries on course work submitted by social workers studying on a post-qualifying programme, indicating what went well, what didn’t go well, and where improvements might have been made.
Implications for policy and practice from the perspective of the middle manager are provided, along with a list of learning points.
Developing reflective practice is essential reading for students (on how to realise practice in a course work context), teachers (on how to assess course work and enhance practice performance), practitioners (on how to approach specific pieces of work) and managers/supervisors (on how to promote best practice), providing standards for both training and practice rooted in the reality of the workplace.
Population ageing today affects most industrialised countries, and it will have an impact on many facets of the social system. Intergenerational relationships will play a key role in dealing with the demographical and societal change. This book provides innovative views in the multidisciplinary research field of intergenerational family relations in society, with a focus on Europe. Different, but complementary, perspectives are integrated in one volume bringing together international scholars from sociology, psychology and economics. The book's chapters are grouped into three thematic sections which cover conceptual issues, multigenerational and cross-cultural perspectives, as well as applied issues. Implications for research, policy and practice are addressed and suggestions for future directions are discussed. By raising recent discussions on controversial issues, this book will stimulate the current discourse at various levels. Intergenerational relations in society and family will be equally interesting for researchers, advanced-level students and stakeholders in the fields of social policy, population ageing and intergenerational family relationships.
Historically, women and men have been assigned to different spaces in their communities. Although several decades of feminist social action have made significant progress to the social, economic and political condition of many women, change has been uneven and there remain considerable advancements to be made globally.
This valuable third edition considers women’s changing position in the world today, updating some of the perennial challenges that women face and examining new and emerging issues including digital exclusion, sustainable community development and environmental justice.
Published in association with the British Association of Social Workers, this book is an invaluable resource for students and practitioners of social work, community work, sociology and social policy.
