Single Mother

The Emergence of the Domestic Intellectual

Author: Jane Juffer
ISBN: 9780814742808

Long perceived as the ultimate symbol of social breakdown and sexual irresponsibility, the single mother is now, in the context of welfare-to-work policies, often hailed as the new spokesperson for hard work and self-sufficiency. A dozen years after Dan Quayle denounced the television character Murphy Brown for making the decision to become a single mother “just another lifestyle choice,” President George W. Bush applauded single mothers for “heroic work,” and positive on-screen representations of single mothers abound, from The Gilmore Girls to Sex and the City to American Idol.Single Mother describes the recent cultural valorization of this figure that—in the midst of demographic changes in the U.S.—has emerged as the unlikely heroic and seductive voice of the new American family. Drawing on her own life as a single mother, interviews with dozens of other single mothers, cultural representations, and policies on welfare, immigration, childcare, and child custody, Juffer a

Publisher: NYU Press
Publish Date: 2006-04-01

Subjects: Family & Relationships / Parenting / Single Parent, Social Science / Sociology / Marriage & Family, Social Science / Women's Studies

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Women's Center (Location: Parenting)