‘I’m so much more myself now, coming back to work’ - working class mothers, paid work and childcare.



reinforcement, with mothers likely to move in peer group circles similar to their own:
those who work full-time were more likely to have friends in full-time jobs, whilst
those who are at home with their children were more likely to have friends who were
not in paid work (Himmelweit & Sigala 2004, p. 470). However, the study shows that
whilst initial attitudes towards motherhood and paid work are influenced by the
behaviour of other mothers, eventually, it is mothers’ own behaviour in relation to the
labour market that most influences their attitude. For example, women in
employment who find themselves in the contradictory position of believing that
having a mother who works harms pre-school children were more likely to change
their attitudes than their behaviour. Overall, Himmelweit and Sigala conclude that
‘neither identities nor behaviours are fixed, but adapt to each other in a process of
positive feedback, both at an individual level and a social level’ (2004, p. 471).

The moral dimensions of parenting and mothering have also been made an object of
policy discourse and intervention. From the beginning of their term in office in 1997,
New Labour education and family policies have been marked by a concern with
changing family ‘cultures’. And whilst, as Sharon Gewirtz points out, the language of
class is not used, policy strategies that, for example, re-cast parents as ‘home
educators’ are ‘very obviously aimed at working class parents’ (Gewirtz 2001, p.
366), there being a tacit understanding that middle class parents are already familiar
with that role. Similarly Val Gillies observes in her examination of New Labour
family support policies that these are not only characterised by the assumption that
‘socially excluded’ families are in need of advice and support to practice effective
parenting, but also that the parenting model found in policy documents ‘resonates
most closely with the values and ambitions of white, middle class parents, suggesting



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