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Although single fathers as primary careers are on the rise, most single-parent households in the US are headed by women. These women are a lucrative market for parenting books and most of these books are aimed at single mothers raising sons. This intersectional study analyses the way in which these advice books draw on mother blame language, misconceptions of neuropsychological research and traditional conceptualisations of masculinity and femininity to convince the mother readers that they are unable to raise a son to be a man. The study further connects the advice books to a cultural backlash against ideas of ‘involved fatherhood’ and ‘caring masculinity’, exploring how the authors argue for a return to traditional family structures.
“Examining expert literature directed towards single mothers in America (and particularly those raising sons), she shows how the advice rests upon raced, classed and gendered ideals about the family form. For these mothers in particular [however], there is the added sting that however hard they work at their parenting, they will never be able to make up for the ‘lack’ of a father figure, a fact which has important implications for their own subjectivities – as well as for conversations about social reproduction more broadly” — Dr Charlotte Faircloth, Associate Professor of Social Science, UCL Social Research Institute, UK.
Introduction: Childcare and Advice in Times of Change; Gender: Borderwork, Science and the Dangerous Mother; Class and Race: Expectations of Mothers and Sons; Reinstating the Father: Fathers in Advice Books for Mothers; Conclusion; Appendix; Notes; Bibliography; Index