Going It Alone?: Lone Motherhood in Late Modernity PDF
Preview Going It Alone?: Lone Motherhood in Late Modernity
GOING IT ALONE? For Megan, Nina and Stella Going it Alone? Lone Motherhood in Late Modernity MARTINA KLETT-DAVIES London School of Economics, UK © Martina Klett-Davies 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Martina Klett-Davies has asserted her moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Gower House Suite 420 Croft Road 101 Cherry Street Aldershot Burlington, VT 05401-4405 Hampshire GU11 3HR USA England Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Klett-Davies, Martina Going it alone? : lone motherhood in later modernity 1. Single mothers – Cross-cultural studies 2. Single mothers – Great Britain 3. Single mothers – Germany 306.8'7432 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Klett-Davis, Martina. Going it alone? : lone motherhood in late modernity / by Martina Klett-Davies. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-4388-3 1. Single mothers--Great Britain--Social conditions. 2. Single mothers--Germany--Social conditions. 3. Single mothers--Great Britain--Economic conditions. 4. Single mothers--Germany--Economic conditions. I. Title. HQ759.915.K63 2007 306.874'320941--dc22 2006031577 ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-4388-3 Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall. Contents List of Figures vii List of Tables viii Acknowledgements ix 1 Introduction 1 2 Explaining Lone Motherhood – Academic and Political Discourses in Britain and Germany 11 3 Lone Motherhood – Late Modernity and Individualization 21 4 The Positioning of Lone Mothers in the British and German Welfare States 31 5 Mothering and Paid Employment – Views and Experiences 51 6 Creating and Interpreting Meaning – The Use of Type Categories 69 7 Pioneers 81 8 Copers 91 9 Strugglers 101 10 Borderliners 109 11 Going it Alone? Concluding Discussion 127 Appendix: The Berlin and London Interviewees 143 Bibliography 147 Index 163 This page intentionally left blank List of Figures Figure 2.1 Employment rates of lone mothers with dependent children, 1994–2004 18 Figure 5.1 Lone mothers’ income sources 54 List of Tables Table 2.1 Proportion of lone parent families of all families with dependent children in percent, 1990–2004 17 Table 5.1 Reasons for staying out of paid employment in per cent 51 Table 6.1 Type categories and characteristics 77 Table A.1 Type categorization according to location 145 Table A.2 Lone mothers’ class background and type category 145 Acknowledgements Going it alone? I wish to thank the Economic and Social Research Council for providing the financial backing for the research that was the foundation for this book. Their Fellowship funding enabled me to write this book. I owe sincere gratitude to my mentor Diane Perrons and to Professor Bridget Hutter, both at the London School of Economics, for their unfailing support and stimulating suggesting. Their guidance provided the academic foundation for developing this book. I am especially grateful to all the 70 interviewees for giving their time so generously to this project. I cannot name them individually because it was felt necessary to maintain their confidentiality. Their accounts form the core of this book and I hope they think this study is a worthy representation of their lives. A number of colleagues and friends have helped me in various stages throughout this project. Special mention must go to Joan O’Mahony and Jim Ottaway for their challenging and inspiring comments at different stages of this work. I would also like to thank Ursula Arens, Anne Boller, Diana Colinese, Rachel Condry, Hazel Johnstone, Victoria Hands, Stephanie Schreiber, Olivia Silverwood-Cope and Sarah Spittle for their suggestions and encouragement. My most heartfelt thanks go to my three daughters Megan, Nina and Stella – for being the happy little people they are – may they become pioneers. I have left the most important person to the end. I will forever be indebted to David Davies. He supported me and believed in me at all times during the ups and downs of this major piece of work. I could not have done it without them and I did not go it alone.
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