Jane Jenson – författare

The word "mother" has traditionally meant a woman who bears and nurtures a child. In recent decades, changes in social norms and public policy as well as advances in reproductive technologies and the development of markets for procreation and care have radically expanded definitions of motherhood. But while maternity has become a choice for more women, the freedom to make reproductive decisions is unevenly distributed. Restrictive policies, socioeconomic disadvantages, cultural mores, and discrimination force some women into motherhood or prevent them from caring for their children. Reassembling Motherhood brings together contributors from across the disciplines to examine the transformation of motherhood as both an identity and a role. It examines how the processes of bearing and rearing a child are being restructured as reproductive labor and care work change around the globe. The authors examine issues such as artificial reproductive technologies, surrogacy, fetal ultrasounds, adoption, nonparental care, and the legal status of kinship, showing how complex chains of procreation and childcare have simultaneously generated greater liberty and new forms of constraint.Emphasizing the tension between the liberalization of procreation and care on the one hand, and the limits to their democratization due to race, class, and global inequality on the other, the book highlights debates that have emerged during these multifaceted changes, working to fragment and then reassemble the concept of motherhood.

The word “mother” traditionally meant a woman who bears and nurtures a child. In recent decades, changes in social norms and public policy as well as advances in reproductive technologies and the development of markets for procreation and care have radically expanded definitions of motherhood. But while maternity has become a matter of choice for more women, the freedom to make reproductive decisions is unevenly distributed. Restrictive policies, socioeconomic disadvantages, cultural mores, and discrimination force some women into motherhood and prevent others from caring for their children.Reassembling Motherhood brings together contributors from across the disciplines to consider the transformation of motherhood as both an identity and a role. It examines how the processes of bearing and rearing a child are being restructured as reproductive labor and care work change around the globe. The authors examine issues such as artificial reproductive technologies, surrogacy, fetal ultrasounds, adoption, nonparental care, and the legal status of kinship, showing how complex chains of procreation and childcare have simultaneously generated greater liberty and new forms of constraint. Emphasizing the tension between the liberalization of procreation and care on the one hand, and the limits to their democratization due to race, class, and global inequality on the other, the book highlights debates that have emerged as these multifaceted changes have led to both the fragmentation and reassembling of motherhood.

What effect did the two world wars have on the relations between women and men? Drawing on broad comparative material—from government policy to popular media, poetry and fiction, and personal letters—this book examines the redefinition of gender that occurred in many Western countries during both world wars.“A major addition to the literature on gender relations and war.”—Helena Lewis, Women’s Review of Books“One of the first, and certainly the most exciting, treatments of war as an event of gender politics.”—Choice“A substantial contribution to the social history of this century.”—Anne Summers, Times Literary Supplement“These essays powerfully demonstrate how much the world wars provided battlegrounds not only for nations but for the sexes.”—Michael S. Sherry, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science“A work of lively, engaged scholarship…. This is an important contribution to current debates about war and human identity, war and political reality, war and transformative possibility.”—Jean Bethke Elshtain

The View from Inside: A French Communist Cell in Crisis by Jane Jenson and George Ross offers a rare ethnographic portrait of the Parti Communiste Français (PCF) at the grassroots in the late 1970s. Based on sustained participant observation with the militants of Cellule Danielle Casanova in Paris, the book follows “ordinary” party members—foot soldiers rather than leaders—as they grapple with the contradictions of Eurocommunism, internal reform, and the PCF’s stubborn commitment to democratic centralism. Far from ordinary in their political commitments, these activists became both advocates of modernization and casualties of its suppression within the party.Through detailed reconstructions of meetings, debates, and informal exchanges, Jenson and Ross capture the texture of rank-and-file political life: disputes over union strategy, the role of women, sexuality, and relations with the Soviet Union; mounting frustrations with party leadership; and the rituals of the Twenty-third Congress that codified decline. By foregrounding the lived experience of militants, the book shows how efforts to create change from below collided with entrenched hierarchies, leading to disillusionment and the erosion of the PCF’s electoral strength. More than a local story, The View from Inside chronicles a turning point in French politics and European Communism, illuminating how crisis at the grassroots mirrored the broader unraveling of a once-powerful movement.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.

The View from Inside: A French Communist Cell in Crisis by Jane Jenson and George Ross offers a rare ethnographic portrait of the Parti Communiste Français (PCF) at the grassroots in the late 1970s. Based on sustained participant observation with the militants of Cellule Danielle Casanova in Paris, the book follows “ordinary” party members—foot soldiers rather than leaders—as they grapple with the contradictions of Eurocommunism, internal reform, and the PCF’s stubborn commitment to democratic centralism. Far from ordinary in their political commitments, these activists became both advocates of modernization and casualties of its suppression within the party.Through detailed reconstructions of meetings, debates, and informal exchanges, Jenson and Ross capture the texture of rank-and-file political life: disputes over union strategy, the role of women, sexuality, and relations with the Soviet Union; mounting frustrations with party leadership; and the rituals of the Twenty-third Congress that codified decline. By foregrounding the lived experience of militants, the book shows how efforts to create change from below collided with entrenched hierarchies, leading to disillusionment and the erosion of the PCF’s electoral strength. More than a local story, The View from Inside chronicles a turning point in French politics and European Communism, illuminating how crisis at the grassroots mirrored the broader unraveling of a once-powerful movement.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.

By focusing on childcare and systematically comparing national experiences in Belgium, France, Italy, Sweden, and the European Union, Who Cares? provides detailed information on recent social policies and a clear perspective on welfare state redesign. Many countries have now designed childcare policies to reconcile family and work. Some encourage parents to provide their own childcare by granting parental leave; others encourage parents to stay at work by supporting childcare services. Using the case of childcare policy, the contributors to this volume examine how public policy choices over the last three decades have been fashioned by specific understandings of the gendered division of labour.The authors of the country studies analyse specific childcare strategies and place them within the larger context of state approaches to women's roles. They argue that an examination of the direction and the form of social spending, in this period when such spending is under attack, contributes to our understanding of new principles of citizenship as they have been developed and articulated by governments.Who Cares? highlights the connection between childcare and employment, and makes a significant contribution to the literature on citizenship and women's work.

This was first published in 2000: This work is founded on the premise that many analyses of economic restructuring and of gender relations fail to recognize two things. First, the situation facing women is different from that of the 1960s when the conceptual apparatuses for analyzing "women and work" were created. Labour markets are dominated by flexible, non-standard work, precarious contractual relations and income disparities. Therefore, it is difficult to structure political claims or analysis around the notion that there is a single labour market, that the primary problem is discrimination or inappropriate training, and that political strategies should focus on discrimination and non-traditional employment. Rather, new challenges require new solutions. The second point of departure is that is is impossible to understand either contemporary labour markets, or the roots of employment and other public policies without locating them vis a vis patterns of gender inequalities generated by and in these labour markets. The labour force has been feminized to such an extent that new, and often unequal gender relations are crucial to their very functioning.

This was first published in 2000: This work is founded on the premise that many analyses of economic restructuring and of gender relations fail to recognize two things. First, the situation facing women is different from that of the 1960s when the conceptual apparatuses for analyzing "women and work" were created. Labour markets are dominated by flexible, non-standard work, precarious contractual relations and income disparities. Therefore, it is difficult to structure political claims or analysis around the notion that there is a single labour market, that the primary problem is discrimination or inappropriate training, and that political strategies should focus on discrimination and non-traditional employment. Rather, new challenges require new solutions. The second point of departure is that is is impossible to understand either contemporary labour markets, or the roots of employment and other public policies without locating them vis a vis patterns of gender inequalities generated by and in these labour markets. The labour force has been feminized to such an extent that new, and often unequal gender relations are crucial to their very functioning.

This title was first published in 2000: The contributors to this fully documented volume address the debate surrounding the nature, impact and desirability of the complex set of phenomena collectively referred to as 'globalization'. The book breaks new ground by showing globalization in a wide range of areas, including national and transnational corporations, welfare policies, adoption, gendered politics and democratic institutions, citizenship, religion and judicial systems. It is also a truly international volume, including studies from North and South America, Africa and Europe. The book illustrates how globalization entails localization and is best explored through the analysis of institutions. It will be of particular interest to political scientists, sociologists, lawyers and anyone interested in the continual processes of global change.

This title was first published in 2000: The contributors to this fully documented volume address the debate surrounding the nature, impact and desirability of the complex set of phenomena collectively referred to as 'globalization'. The book breaks new ground by showing globalization in a wide range of areas, including national and transnational corporations, welfare policies, adoption, gendered politics and democratic institutions, citizenship, religion and judicial systems. It is also a truly international volume, including studies from North and South America, Africa and Europe. The book illustrates how globalization entails localization and is best explored through the analysis of institutions. It will be of particular interest to political scientists, sociologists, lawyers and anyone interested in the continual processes of global change.

Absent Mandate develops the crucial concept of policy mandates, distinguished from other interpretations of election outcomes, and addresses the disconnect between election issues and government actions. Emphasizing Canadian federal elections between 1993 and 2015, the book examines the Chretien/Martin, Harper, and Trudeau governments and the campaigns that brought them to power. Using data from the Canadian Election Studies and other major surveys, Absent Mandate documents the longstanding volatility in Canadian voting behaviour. The failure of elections to provide genuine policy mandates stimulates public discontent with the political process and widens the gap between the promise and the performance of Canadian democracy.