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mothering and such images are socialized through communicative practices associated
with caregiving’ (Ochs, 1992:337).
Research examining the conversations of mothers at a playgroup has focused on
the ‘minutiae of their concerns as mothers and primary care-givers’ and the women
‘invited comment and support from other mothers in the group’(Evringham, 1994:79).
Western family culture has been established on the idealization of the mother's role and
as Cook-Gumperz points out, ‘assumptions that the moral worth of future generations
depends on the activities of the ideal mother', further she suggests 'the ideological
constraints that are put on women to attempt to live up to the ideal of the "good mother"...
threaten the existence of the mother's own individuality' (1995: 402). Women take their
roles as mothers ‘very seriously’ and like ‘others to recognize and appreciate the extent to
which’ they meet ‘society's prescriptions in these areas’ (Holmes, 1997: 207).
The 'good mother' (Winnicott, 1965; Bowlby, 1969; Chodorow, 1978; Bettelheim,
1987; Bortolaia-Silva, 1996; Holmes, 1997) is an identity category that surfaces both
within the literature and repeatedly within the media, particularly in relation to the
advertising and marketing of domestic products. For today’s ‘post-feminist’ women the
increased lifestyle options available make motherhood an increasingly complex social
role.
The presentation of self and social roles in everyday interactions.
The notion of monitoring status in relation to ‘frontstage’ or ‘backstage’ roles
(Goffman, 1967) is a useful division when looking at talk that focuses on social roles.
Convention