Motherload - Making It All Better in Insecure Times (Paperback)

In a time of economic anxiety, fear of terrorism, and marital uncertainty, insecurity has become a big part of life for many American mothers. With other bases of security far from guaranteed, mothers are often left seeking something they can count on. In this beautifully written and accessible book, Ana Villalobos shows how mothers frequently zero in on the one thing that seems sure to them: the mother-child relationship. Based on over one hundred interviews with and observations of mothers--single or married, and who experience varying forms of insecurity in their lives--Villalobos finds that mothers overwhelmingly expect the mothering relationship to "make it all better" for themselves and their children.
But there is a price to pay for loading this single relationship with such high expectations. Using detailed case studies, Villalobos shows how women's Herculean attempts to create various kinds of security through mothering often backfire, thereby exhausting mothers, deflecting their focus from other possible sources of security, and creating more stress. That stress is further exacerbated by dominant ideals about "good" mothering--ideals that are fraught with societal pressures and expectations that reach well beyond what mothers can actually do for their children. Pointing to hopeful alternatives, Villalobos shows how more realistic expectations about motherhood lead remarkably to greater security in families by prompting mothers to cast broader security nets, making conditions less stressful and--just as significantly--bringing greater joy in mothering.

General

Imprint:	University of California Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	September 2014
First published:	2014
Authors:	Ana Villalobos
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 20mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	296
ISBN-13:	978-0-520-27810-3
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Gender studies > Women's studies > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social institutions > Family & relationships > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Anthropology > Social & cultural anthropology > General Promotions
LSN:	0-520-27810-0
Barcode:	9780520278103

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