Going It Alone?: Lone Motherhood in Late Modernity

177 Pages·2007·0.79 MB·English

by  Martina Klett-davies

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
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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.