Economic Decision-making and Moral Rationalities

Abstract

In previous chapters we examined discourses about lone motherhood (Chapter 2), lone mothers in neighbourhood social networks (Chapter 3), in local labour markets (Chapter 6), and in different welfare state regimes and gender contracts — ‘genderfare’ (Chapter 7). These social structures and practices form opportunities and constraints for lone mothers, and all are influential on whether they do, or do not, take up paid work. However, lone mothers are not simply the prisoners of these social structures and practices; they are not simply positioned, they also position themselves. As we showed in Chapters 4 and 5, there are various ‘gendered moral rationalities’ through which lone mothers think about, and socially negotiate, their position on how paid work and motherhood should be combined.