Consuming Motherhood addresses the provocative question of how motherhood and consumption--as ideologies and as patterns of social action--mutually shape and constitute each other in contemporary North American and European social life. Ideologically, motherhood and consumption are often constructed in opposition to each other, with motherhood standing in as a naturalized social relation that is thought to be uniquely free of the calculating instrumentality that dominates commercial relations. Yet, in social life, motherhood and consumption are inseparable. Whether shopping...

Drawing on both sociological and anthropological perspectives, this volume explores cross-national trends and everyday experiences of parenting .

Parenting in Global Perspective examines the significance of parenting as a subject of professional expertise, and activity in which adults are increasingly expected to be emotionally absorbed and become personally fulfilled. By focusing the significance of parenting as a form of relationship and as mediated by family relationships across time and space, the book explores the points of accommodation and points of tension...