KeywoRds
Control over work / economic resources / low-income and working-class Swedish single mothers / relative deprivation / structural ambivalence / work-family reconciliation
Introduction
It has been noted that the kinds of state support that single mothers receive can be used as a measure of the position of women more generally (Hobson, 1994, p. 176). The Nordic countries, where family policies emphasize both gender equality and equality in children's living conditions regardless of family form, are frequently cited as good examples. Universal publicly financed childcare has enabled single mothers to support themselves and their children by taking up paid jobs. This in turn has kept poverty rates down (Esping-Anderson, 2016, p. 82; Meagher & Szebehely, 2012, pp. 98-102). Surprisingly, little is known, however, about how single mothers cope with being both primary breadwinners and carers. Survey data indicate that work-family conflict and financial stress are the strongest predictors of subjective well-being for single mothers in Scandinavia (Bull & Mettelmark, 2009), but research on work-family reconciliation has mostly focused on dual-earner families. This is also the case internationally (Ciabattari, 2007;Gibson, 2012; Kröger, 2009).The present study adds to previous research by exploring work-family reconciliation among low-income and working-class single mothers in Sweden.1 It is particularly warranted to focus on low-income and working-class single mothers because international 1 You can find this text and its DOI at https://tidsskrift.dk/njwls/index. 2
There is lively discussion in the social sciences about minority groups and their claims for social justice. Universalism versus difference and redistribution versus recognition are two important issues of debate. This paper takes a closer look at the social justice claims articulated by the Swedish disability movement. It discusses how questions of representation, collective identity, and needs interpretations are dealt with in a number of disability associations. One important assumption guiding our study is that the interpretations of members' needs, how their needs can best be met, and who is to have the legitimate right to communicate their needs, are questions subject to constant debate. The aim is to demonstrate some of the complexities confronting the disability movement in its struggle for social justice. To be more specific, we set out to show two things: (i) how different kinds of justice claims are balanced by the investigated organizations; and (ii) that the demands for cultural recognition and socioeconomic redistribution are raised not only by the disability movement vis-à-vis the state, but also by groups within the disability movement vis-à-vis other groups in the movement.
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