Engendering Motherhood: Identity and Self-Transformation in Women's Lives [Hardcover]

McMahon. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572300027 | ISBN-13: 978-1572300026 | Publication Date: August 18, 1995

Martha McMahon asked a sample of full-time employed mothers about their experiences of becoming and being mothers. Drawing on symbolic interaction to analyze the cultural associations between motherhood, morality, and the value of children, the author comes to insightful and politically relevant conclusions. The different circumstances by which women in her study became pregnant and came to have children, the author explains, had to do not simply with the transformation of personal identities but with the reproduction of inequality through the production of babies.

The book illuminates the paradoxical character of motherhood: as both a socially determined, potentially oppressive role and one that also provides profound personal meaning that can expand the boundaries of women's lives. The author illustrates how an informed understanding of the impact of motherhood on women's identities provides an essential framework for a critique of dominant models of human relationships.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A wonderful example of qualitative research and inquiries into the meaning of motherhood among 59 Canadian women....The attraction of this well-written book is twofold: First, it elucidates the diverse experience of motherhood...and describes authentically the richness and the depths of such experiences....Secondly, it points out that social class is a major contributing factor that accounts for differences in that spiritual transformation...." --Renate Forssmann-Falck, M.D., in News for Women in Psychiatry

"This is a book to be read for its contribution to sociological theories of gender and family. Recommended for graduate students and professionals." --K.M. McKinley, Cabrini College in Choice

"An unusually insightful look at the processes by which women become mothers and the meaning of motherhood to them. The subjective experience of motherhood did not involve a denial of the self, in spite of stereotypes, but offered opportunities to claim personal growth and development.' The mothers saw themselves as morally enhanced persons through this process of adult re-socialization. McMahon concludes importantly that the women were engendered through connectedness to their children, with fascinating class differences in how their identity as women is achieved from becoming and being mothers. This book is an invaluable addition to feminism, and to gender and family college courses. It will become major reading for women in English-speaking countries, and I do not doubt that it will be translated into other languages." --Helena Znaniecka Lopata, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Loyola University of Chicago

"Will be a path-breaking book. It is filled with insights about women's changes in outlook and identity that occur through the processes of mothering. And it offers insights pursued through by working and middle class mothers, partnered and alone mothers. Happily, McMahon's work is also a good read, moving and perceptive in its evocations of women's lives as mothers. It is also brilliant and original in its theoretical contribution to our understanding of such concepts as commitment, affiliation, responsibility and personal growth. Don't miss it." --Arlene Kaplan Daniels, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

" One of the strengths of this book is the way in which the data are used to display the ways in which the experiences of motherhood can be understood as constitutive of gender rather than as ans expression of pre-maternal gendered identities. The author's extensive discussion of her methodological approach makes this book valuable for students thinking about qualitative design. ...provides detailed description and analysis which goes well beyond socialization and the internalization of roles. The work raises questions, first, concerning the theorizing of identity and offers a sound approach to notions of multiple identity negotiation, particularly in relation to class and to gender. Second, the book provides a rich source of empirical material with which to analyze feminist arguments regarding more general issues of social bonding and responsibility, and the relationship between mothering and connectedness." --Alexandra Howson, Department of Sociology, University of Edinburgh

About the Author

Martha McMahon received her undergraduate degree in sociology and economics from University College Dublin, Ireland, and her doctorate from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. She is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where she teaches in the areas of gender, women and the environment, and qualitative methodology. She has also worked in a variety of government-sponsored programs in Canada for immigrant women, sole-support mothers, and women on social assistance.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 324 pages
• Publisher: Guilford Press (August 18, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572300027
• ISBN-13: 978-1572300026
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,501,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars This is research at its finest!, November 2, 2010

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Lisa Hotaling "Lisa Carley Hotaling" (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Engendering Motherhood: Identity and Self-Transformation in Women's Lives (Hardcover)

McMahon's book hit that sweet-spot between academic rigor and main-stream readability. Her excellent research into the institution of motherhood as experienced by mothers themselves formed the foundation of a brilliant analysis of what factors both precede and emerge through the mothering experience. One of the aspects that most impressed me was her detailed (and accessible) explanation of her methodology. For anyone considering a grounded theory approach to his or her own research, this book offers an excellent primer. Then, she puts it in motion with narrative-rich depth, remaining simultaneously dedicated to her research question and giving authentic voice to each and every participant. This is grounded theory at its best. Especially when considering the relative narrative silence of "ambivalent" mothers, this kind of research is critical as it unapologetically tackles one of the most far-reaching social dilemmas of our day: how do we mother (a communal enterprise)in a modern culture obsessed with individualism and competition? McMahon, true to her academic obligations, refuses to drift into polemics and keeps her eye on the ball at all times: what is the narrative hue of modern motherhood? A must-read for both academics and interested lay readers.