Sonya Michel - Böcker

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

Why is the United States one of the few advanced democratic market societies that do not offer child care as a universal public benefit or entitlement? This book—a comprehensive history of child care policy and practices in the United States from the colonial period to the present—shows why the current child care system evolved as it has and places its history within a broad comparative context.Drawing on a full range of archival material, Sonya Michel shows how child care policy in the United States was shaped by changing theories of child development and early childhood education, attitudes toward maternal employment, and conceptions of the proper roles of low-income and minority women. And she argues that the present policy—erratic, inadequate, and stigmatized—is typical of the American way of doing welfare.

Historians of Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and the United States provide a sweeping view of the scope of women's work and make comparisons across societies and over time.

Whether childcare is seen as part of society's educational policy, welfare policy, or employment policy affects not only its form and content but also its public image. The contributors in this volume use current polices for the care of infants and preschool children to analyze debates and track the emergence of new state welfare practices across a variety of social and political configurations-and offer some conclusions about which methods work the best.

Whether childcare is seen as part of society's educational policy, welfare policy, or employment policy affects not only its form and content but also its public image. The contributors in this volume use current polices for the care of infants and preschool children to analyze debates and track the emergence of new state welfare practices across a variety of social and political configurations-and offer some conclusions about which methods work the best.

"On the whole, this much needed book offers both a necessary corrective to and further development of theoretical thinking about and empirical analysis of civil society. It should be required reading among historians, political scientists and sociologists alike." * Journal of Contemporary European Studies "Civil Society and Gender Justice does double intellectual duty: at the same time that it subjects the idea of civil society to scrupulous feminist critique, it demonstrates the theoretical utility and political necessity of that concept. Cogently argued and studded with illuminating transnational case studies, this single volume is priority reading for feminists, historians, and citizens." * Mary P. Ryan (University of California Berkeley) "Finally, in this rich collection of sparkling essays, the much ballyhooed concept of 'civil society' receives a searching critique and reconstruction from the standpoint of gender. Ranging well beyond the usual Western European and North American contexts, the contributors disclose both the exclusionary limitations and the transformative prospects of multiple incarnations and imaginings of civil society."* Nancy Fraser (New School for Social Research) Civil society and civic engagement have increasingly become topics of discussion at the national and international level. The editors of this volume ask, does the concept of "civil society" include gender equality and gender justice? Or, to frame the question differently, is civil society a feminist concept? Conversely, does feminism need the concept of civil society? This important volume offers both a revised gendered history of civil society and a program for making it more egalitarian in the future. An interdisciplinary group of internationally known authors investigates the relationship between public and private in the discourses and practices of civil societies; the significance of the family for the project of civil society; the relation between civil society, the state, and different forms of citizenship; and the complex connection between civil society, gendered forms of protest and nongovernmental movements. While often critical of historical instantiations of civil society, all the authors nonetheless take seriously the potential inherent in civil society, particularly as it comes to influence global politics.They demand, however, an expansion of both the concept and project of civil society in order to make its political opportunities available to all.

Historians of Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and the United States provide a sweeping view of the scope of women's work and make comparisons across societies and over time.

Gender and the Long Postwar examines gender politics during the post-World War II period and the Cold War in the United States and East and West Germany. The authors show how disruptions of older political and social patterns, exposure to new cultures, population shifts, and the rise of consumerism affected gender roles and identities. Comparing all three countries, chapters analyze the ways that gender figured into relations between victor and vanquished and shaped everyday life in both the Western and Soviet blocs. Topics include the gendering of the immediate aftermath of war; the military, politics, and changing masculinities in postwar societies; policies to restore the gender order and foster marriage and family; demobilization and the development of postwar welfare states; and debates over sexuality (gay and straight).

In this interdisciplinary volume, leading and emerging scholars examine the relationship between homogeneity and welfare state development. They trace Gunnar Myrdal's influence on thinking about race in the US and explore current European states' approaches to the strangers in their midst, and what social citizenship looks like from a global perspective.Myrdal's An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy persuaded many scholars that the United States failed to develop a robust welfare state because of its ethnic and racial heterogeneity. Conversely, it argued that homogeneity was a precondition for the creation of strong welfare states in European, especially Nordic, countries. With increasing diversity now challenging these welfare states, the kind of 'dilemma' that Myrdal identified no longer appears to be solely an American one.Students and scholars of contemporary welfare states in the social sciences and policy studies will find this to be an insightful read, as the book challenges current perceptions. It will also be of interest to policy makers and practitioners looking to examine the historical context behind the politics of welfare states in the US and Scandinavia.Contributors: H. Blomberg-Kroll, G. Brochmann, R. Careja, P. Emmenegger, T. Faist, P. Kettunen, D. King, J. Kvist, S. Michel, M. Morey, H.B. Nassif, A. O'Connor, R.S. Parreñas, S. Pellander, K. Petersen, D. Roberts, A.V. Schwennicke, A.H. Sinno, E. Tatari, S. Williamson

Civil society and civic engagement have increasingly become topics of discussion at the national and international level. The editors of this volume ask, does the concept of “civil society” include gender equality and gender justice? Or, to frame the question differently, is civil society a feminist concept? Conversely, does feminism need the concept of civil society?This important volume offers both a revised gendered history of civil society and a program for making it more egalitarian in the future. An interdisciplinary group of internationally known authors investigates the relationship between public and private in the discourses and practices of civil societies; the significance of the family for the project of civil society; the relation between civil society, the state, and different forms of citizenship; and the complex connection between civil society, gendered forms of protest and nongovernmental movements. While often critical of historical instantiations of civil society, all the authors nonetheless take seriously the potential inherent in civil society, particularly as it comes to influence global politics. They demand, however, an expansion of both the concept and project of civil society in order to make its political opportunities available to all.

Using a multi-scalar approach that addresses micro, meso, and macro levels, chapters examine three domains: care provisioning, the supply of and demand for care work, and the shaping and framing of care.