Book Review: A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s

Bok, Marcia

doi:10.1177/0886109911428303

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

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“…The eventual dominance of this way of organizing family life among middle-class White families in the 1950's was made possible by additional historical events, such as the competitive edge of the U.S. economy in the wake of World War II, widespread job security among White middle-class men, affordable middle-class housing, and rising real wages (Coontz, 2016). By the 1950's, middle-class White women were encouraged to "lean into" domesticity in an unprecedented way, further enlarging the role of motherhood (Coontz, 2011;Friedan, 1963). Those with fewer class-based resources, on the other hand, faced difficulty living in accordance with the doctrine of separate spheres often due to the inability to survive on the wages of one earner (Coontz, 2011(Coontz, , 2016.…”

Section: Historical Foundations Of Intensive Motheringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By the 1950's, middle-class White women were encouraged to "lean into" domesticity in an unprecedented way, further enlarging the role of motherhood (Coontz, 2011;Friedan, 1963). Those with fewer class-based resources, on the other hand, faced difficulty living in accordance with the doctrine of separate spheres often due to the inability to survive on the wages of one earner (Coontz, 2011(Coontz, , 2016.…”

Section: Historical Foundations Of Intensive Motheringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The institution of slavery exploited both the productive and reproductive labor of Black women and slaveholders often destroyed the kinship ties of enslaved people as reflected in the omnipresent threat of familial separation (Christian, 1994;Dill, 1994;Hill, 2001;Morgan, 2018;Patterson, 1982;Shaw, 1994;Webster, 2017). Given this backdrop, the doctrine of separate spheres has not been the dominant practice among Black families (Coontz, 2011;Hill, 2001). In fact, Black mothers have a long history of engaging in labor beyond the family, as evidenced in slavery, and continuing by necessity with the economic exploitation and exclusion of Black men from jobs offering a family wage (Christian, 1994;Collins, 1994;Hill, 2001).…”

Section: Historical Foundations Of Intensive Motheringmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Decentering intensive mothering: More fully accounting for race and class in motherhood norms

Minnotte

2023

Sociology Compass

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In 1996 Sharon Hays published The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood describing the ideology of intensive mothering calling upon mothers to engage in a time‐intensive, expensive, and expert‐informed style of mothering. In this article, I describe the historical circumstances giving rise to intensive mothering and how structural and historical realities diverge across race and class. I argue that enactments of motherhood are varied, forming a mosaic of motherhood enactments informed by mothers' social locations, including their positions in racialized and classed hierarchies. Mothers operating from marginalized locations innovate and resist intensive mothering, while also being judged by these norms, despite often lacking the resources to meet them. Privileged, primarily White mothers, have been able to harness their resources to achieve intensive mothering and redefine what constitutes good mothering to match the style of mothering they practice. Among some privileged, predominantly White mothers, I contend an even more intense version of intensive mothering is being practiced, with some moving beyond being “expert informed” to positioning themselves as the experts who possess specialized knowledge superior to that of medical and educational experts. All told, I argue that mothering enactments are more diverse than is often portrayed by the concept of intensive mothering.

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