scholarly journals Narrating Ambivalence of Maternal Responsibility

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eija Sevón
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Care ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Moral Ambiguity ◽  
Early Motherhood ◽  
Moral Domain ◽  
Shadow Side ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
First Time

Early motherhood and caring for the infant involve a moral ambiguity that is related to the questions of responsibility and vulnerability. By means of the ethics of care, motherhood can be understood as belonging to the moral domain, as relational, and as linked with everyday social situations. The culturally dominant narratives of ‘good mothering’ easily naturalise and normatise maternal agency. This study illustrates the process of adopting responsibility for the infant and the moral ambivalence that is inscribed in early maternal care. The data consist of four interview sessions with each of seven first-time mothers conducted during pregnancy and the first post-natal year. The interviews concentrated on events, relationships, routines, thoughts and feelings related to the mothers’ daily caring for the baby. The women talked about their experiences drawing on two different narratives. The narrative of desirable responsibility unfolded the positive aspects of caring and responsibility for the baby. By means of this narrative, the women were able to give coherence to their lives as new mothers and to narrate the pleasure they felt in taking responsibility for their baby. In contrast, the narrative of maternal vulnerability showed the shadow side of maternal care focusing on the mothers’ tiredness and distress. This narrative embodied ‘moral monitoring’ and ‘epistemological struggles’ between the dominant cultural narratives and the mothers’ personal narratives. The study shows that early mothering is morally laden in two different ways simultaneously. Mothering itself is a moral disposition and practice characterised by ambivalence. The cultural narratives of ‘good mothering’ play a dual role in this process: they tempt women into pursuing intensive mothering, but at the same time they create an elusive moral imperative.

Chopin and His World

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Franz Liszt ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Artistic Representations ◽  
First Time

Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849), although the most beloved of piano composers, remains a contradictory figure, an artist of virtually universal appeal who preferred the company of only a few sympathetic friends and listeners. This book reexamines Chopin and his music in light of the cultural narratives formed during his lifetime. These include the romanticism of the ailing spirit, tragically singing its death-song as life ebbs; the Polish expatriate, helpless witness to the martyrdom of his beloved homeland, exiled among friendly but uncomprehending strangers; the sorcerer-bard of dream, memory, and Gothic terror; and the pianist's pianist, shunning the appreciative crowds yet composing and improvising idealized operas, scenes, dances, and narratives in the shadow of virtuoso-idol Franz Liszt. The chapters demonstrate the ways in which Chopin responded to and was understood to exemplify these narratives, as an artist of his own time and one who transcended it. The book offers recently rediscovered artistic representations of his hands (with analysis), and—for the first time in English—an extended tribute to Chopin published in Poland upon his death and contemporary Polish writings contextualizing Chopin's compositional strategies.

“Painful, yet Beautiful, Moments”: Pathways Through Infant Feeding and Dynamic Conceptions of Breastfeeding Success

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973232110321
Author(s):  
Mackenzie D. M. Whipps ◽  
Hirokazu Yoshikawa ◽  
Jill R. Demirci ◽  
Jennifer Hill
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Infant Feeding ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Income ◽  
First Year ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Written Narratives ◽  
Intensive Mothering ◽  
First Time

What is breastfeeding “success”? In this article, we challenge the traditional biomedical definition, instead centering visions of success described by breastfeeding mothers themselves. Using semi-structured interviews, quantitative surveys, and written narratives of 38 first-time mothers in the United States, we describe five common pathways through the first-year postpartum, a taxonomic distinction far more complex than a success–failure dichotomy: sustained breastfeeding, exclusive pumping, combination feeding, rapid weaning, and grinding back to exclusivity. We also explore the myriad ways in which mothers define and experience breastfeeding success, and in the process uncover the ways that cultural narratives—especially intensive mothering—color those experiences. Finally, we discuss how these experiences are shaped by infant feeding pathway. In doing so, we discover nuance that has gone unexplored in the breastfeeding literature. These findings have implications for supporting, promoting, and protecting breastfeeding in the United States and other high-income countries.

scholarly journals Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Psychology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Vaidis ◽  
Alexandre Bran
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
General Psychology ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Cognitive Dissonance Theory ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Very Large Array ◽  
Dissonance Theory ◽  
First Time

Appearing for the first time in the mid-20th century, the term “cognitive dissonance” appears nowadays about eight hundred times in PsycINFO and the original book has been cited more than forty-five thousand times in scientific publications: that is more than twice a day for about sixty years. The theory of cognitive dissonance was molded by Leon Festinger at the beginning of the 1950s. It suggests that inconsistencies among cognitions (i.e., knowledge, opinion, or belief about the environment, oneself, or one’s behavior) generate an uncomfortable motivating feeling (i.e., the cognitive dissonance state). According to the theory, people feel uncomfortable when they experience cognitive dissonance and thus are motivated to retrieve an acceptable state. The magnitude of existing dissonance depends on the importance of the involved cognitions. Experiencing a higher level of dissonance causes pressure and motivation to reduce the dissonance. Findings from several studies show that dissonance occurs when people do not act in accordance with their attitude (e.g., writing supportive arguments in favor of a topic that they do not agree upon; performing a task they disapprove). Festinger 1957 (cited under Core Historical Sources) considers three ways to cope with cognitive dissonance: (a) changing one or several involved elements in the dissonance relationship (e.g., moving an opinion to fit a behavior), (b) adding new elements to reduce the inconsistency (e.g., adopting opinions that fit a behavior), and (c) reducing the importance of the involved elements. Early theorists in this field suggested improvement to the cognitive dissonance theory by adding restrictions for the emergence of the phenomena. Three major developments have to be considered: the commitment purpose and freedom, the consequence of the act purpose, and the self-involvement. Since the 2010s, the theory has been refined with new integrative models and methodological breakthrough. Mostly studied in human beings, several studies shift paradigms to other animals such as nonhuman primates, rats, and birds. The cognitive dissonance theory has been applied to a very large array of social situations and leads to original experimental designs. It is arguably one of the most influential theories in social psychology, general psychology, and cross-discipline sciences more generally.

The Development of Domains of Moral and Conventional Norms, Coordination in Decision-Making, and the Implications of Social Opposition

2019 ◽  
pp. 195-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliot Turiel ◽  
Audun Dahl
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Psychological Development ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Developmental Pathway ◽  
Social Convention ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Social Decisions ◽  
Moral Domain ◽  
Personal Jurisdiction

This chapter discusses norms in the domains of morality, social convention, and personal jurisdiction from the perspective of psychological development. Many studies have documented that by a young age children think in different ways about each of these domains and that each represents a different developmental pathway. Reasoning about the moral domain, which is a main focus of the chapter, is connected with emotions, and the development of moral judgments stems from individuals’ reciprocal social interactions in direct and everyday experiences. Whereas the domains of norms are distinct, many social situations include considerations from different domains and, therefore, social decisions often involve processes of coordination of weighing those differing and sometimes conflicting considerations. After discussion of processes of coordination, the chapter considers ways that individuals reflect upon the fairness of systems of social organization and coordinate acceptance of norms and opposition to norms through their moral judgments.

To break down the wall

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Schely-Newman
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Immigrant Woman ◽  
Life Changes ◽  
Learning To Read ◽  
Delicate Balance ◽  
Shared History ◽  
Significant Life ◽  
Narrative Event ◽  
First Time

Narrating self-experiences inherently involves tension between real time and remembered time, between narrative event and narrated events. Narrators employ various strategies of footing and voicing to position their current “self” vis-à-vis their former selves and their audience. These characteristics are particularly pertinent in the case of significant life changes, such as learning to read and write for the first time as an adult. This paper treats personal narratives of an Israeli immigrant woman elicited during a meeting with a former literacy teacher. The encounter, forty years later, provides an opportunity for both to reestablish their relative identities and reframe their shared history. Analyzing the events — and narratives thereof — within their sociocultural contexts, reveal a delicate balance between gratitude and agency in the construction of a literate identity. These transformational narratives draw upon the Israeli hegemonic narrative of assimilation and modernization as well as the Mizrahi counternarrative of integration, creating a unique version of the consequences of (il)literacy.

Marihuana “High”—A First-Time Effect?

1976 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 543-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelline Burns ◽  
Satanand Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Time Effect ◽  
Subjective Experiences ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
First Time

282 anonymous questionnaires were distributed in the Los Angeles area to assess the first-time subjective experiences under the influence of marihuana. A majority of the respondents did not experience the expected marihuana “high.” This supports the notion that multiple experiences are necessary to recognize a state of marihuana intoxication. Other assessments such as age of first use, social situations at first use, reasons for initial use, and frequency of current use were also made.

The Editorial Opinion of the Mainstream Media During the Catalan Elections of 2017: A Madrid–Barcelona Comparative Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 000276422097846
Author(s):  
Enric Xicoy-Comas ◽  
Cristina Perales-García ◽  
Rafael Xambó
Keyword(s):  
Basque Country ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Franco Regime ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
The Press ◽  
Self Rule ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
First Time

This article is a follow-up to an article published in the American Behavioral Scientist in 2017, titled “Shaping public opinion for confrontation: Catalan independence claims as represented in Spanish, Catalan, Valencian, and Basque Editorials.” At that time, our study was based on opinions expressed in mainstream newspaper editorials during two significant events in Catalonia’s recent history: the demonstration against the Spanish Constitutional Court ruling on the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of July 10, 2010, and the mass pro-independence demonstration held on September 11, 2012. The research sought to compare the press reports published in Catalonia, Valencia, and the Basque Country with those from the rest of Spain (primarily Madrid). This study applies the same methodology to analyze editorial pieces published during the campaign prior to the Catalan parliamentary elections on December 21, 2017. This date was historically significant for Catalonia because for the first time since the restoration of democracy following the Franco regime, the Spanish state had intervened in Catalonia’s self-rule by using Article 155 of the Spanish constitution to call snap elections. At the time, the lead candidates for the pro-independence parties were Oriol Junqueras (Republican Left of Catalonia) and Carles Puigdemont (Together for Catalonia), the former in prison and the latter abroad (or in “exile,” according to secessionists). In light of the opposing opinions and perspectives, we believe it is worth analyzing and comparing mainstream editorials from Catalonia (Barcelona) and Spain (Madrid) once again, to ascertain the dominant narratives used in both to explain the Catalan and Spanish position and frame of reference. We have extended the scope to include mainstream online as well as printed media with a view to achieving a better understanding and providing a wider overview of the public agenda and debate at that time.

Defining the Discographic Self

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Personal Narratives ◽  
British Society ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Presentation Of Self ◽  
The Public ◽  
Online Archive ◽  
Desert Island ◽  
Iconic Status ◽  
First Time ◽  
Radio Programme

The radio programme Desert Island Discs has run almost continuously since 1942, and represents a unique record of the changing place of music in British society. In 2011, recognising its iconic status, the BBC created an online archive that includes podcasts of all programmes from 1976 on, and many from earlier years. Based on this and extensive documentary evidence, Defining the Discographic Self: ‘Desert Island Discs’ in Context for the first time brings together musicologists, sociologists, and media scholars to reflect on the programme’s significance, its position within the BBC and Britain’s continually evolving media, and its relationship to other comparable programmes. Of particular interest are the meanings attributed to music in the programme by both castaways and interviewers, the ways in which music is invoked in the public presentation of self, the incorporation of music within personal narratives, and changes in musical tastes during the seven decades spanned by the programme. Scholarly chapters are complemented by former castaways’ accounts of their appearances, which give fascinating insiders’ views into how the programme is made and how its guests prepare for their involvement.

scholarly journals The Maternity Experience of New Zealand Samoan First-time Mothers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Marianna Churchward
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Intergenerational Relationships ◽  
Embodied Experience ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Pregnancy And Childbirth ◽  
Early Motherhood ◽  
First Time Mothers ◽  
Before And After ◽  
First Time

<p>Motherhood is a life-changing event. It is a significant milestone for a woman. This thesis explores the concept of motherhood from the perspectives of Samoan first-time mothers living in New Zealand. The thesis traces their experiences from conception, pregnancy and childbirth through to early motherhood. Their narratives are the focus of the research and are complemented by the viewpoints from some of their own mothers, and maternity health professionals.  The overarching question, ‘What are the experiences of a group of first-time New Zealand-born Samoan mothers before and after birth?’ was framed from a strengths-based approach and draws on work which defines a strength-based approach to resilience as research that changed traditional deficit perspectives. Rather than focusing on how individuals or families have failed or struggled, emphasis is directed to how they can succeed or how they can manage (Walsh, 2006).  Interviews were conducted in Wellington and Auckland with 11 first-time Samoan mothers prior to childbirth and follow-up interviews with nine of these women within 12 months of the birth of their child. Five Samoan grandmothers, i.e. mothers of these first-time mothers, five midwives and five Plunket nurses were also interviewed.  Four sites of analysis were examined – the embodied experience of conception and pregnancy; the process of labour and childbirth; the new norm of early motherhood, and interpersonal relationships and encounters. Analysis was conducted through the overarching lens of the Samoan concept of the vā (Wendt, 1999), the theoretical frameworks of ‘negotiated spaces’ (Mila-Schaaf and Hudson, 2009) and sophisticated mediation (Churchward, 2011).  It was found that the first-time New Zealand-born Samoan mothers engaged in a complex and, at times, contradictory process of seeking support during their transition to motherhood. They demonstrated resilience and their skill as sophisticated mediators. The women depended on relationships, some biological and some not, that were reliable and sustainable and the interaction and care that the relationship offered. Intergenerational relationships were important to these first-time New Zealand-born Samoan mothers, particularly ones they had with their own mother, or someone close to them, as it was pivotal in the way in which they constructed their maternity experience.</p>

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