Elizabeth Alice O’Rourke Scott BSc, MA, MSc Family talk: Irish women across generations negotiate single motherhood Submitted for the award of: Doctor of Philosophy Subject: Psychology With: The Open University 30 June 2017 Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................... 1 Figures and Tables .............................................................................................................................................. 4 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Dedication .......................................................................................................................................................... 6 Abstract .............................................................................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 1. Introduction: Single Motherhood in Ireland..................................................................................... 1 1.1 Single motherhood in context ................................................................................................................. 3 1.2 Irish identities and change ....................................................................................................................... 7 1.3 Researching single motherhood: discourse and psychology ................................................................. 12 1.4 The research questions .......................................................................................................................... 13 1.5 Overview of thesis ................................................................................................................................. 14 Chapter 2. Constructing knowledge: investigating psychologies ..................................................................... 20 2.1 Variable variables and changing psychologies ....................................................................................... 21 2.2 Socially constructed identities ............................................................................................................... 29 2.3 Examining talk ........................................................................................................................................ 35 2.3.1 Subject positions ............................................................................................................................. 38 2.3.2 Ideology and rhetoric ...................................................................................................................... 39 2.3.3 Joint action ...................................................................................................................................... 41 2.3.4 Narrative analysis ............................................................................................................................ 41 2.4 Debates in discourse .............................................................................................................................. 43 2.4.1 Feeling and talk ............................................................................................................................... 45 2.5 Chapter conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 49 Chapter 3. The making of ‘happy maidens’ ...................................................................................................... 52 3.1 Mothering .............................................................................................................................................. 52 3.1.1 Constructing childhood constructing parenting .............................................................................. 54 3.1.2 Attachment theories ....................................................................................................................... 55 3.1.3 Attachment parenting ..................................................................................................................... 62 3.1.4 Mothering in Ireland ....................................................................................................................... 63 3.1.5 Mothering identities ........................................................................................................................ 65 3.2 Women and sexuality ............................................................................................................................ 67 3.3 Out of wedlock child bearing ................................................................................................................. 70 3.4 Young single mothers ............................................................................................................................ 78 3.5 Chapter conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 84 Chapter 4. Family Matters ................................................................................................................................ 86 4.1 Constructing families ............................................................................................................................. 88 4.2 Families in Ireland .................................................................................................................................. 90 4.3 Roles and relationships in families ......................................................................................................... 95 1 4.4 Unmarried fathers ............................................................................................................................... 100 4.5 Chapter conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 102 Chapter 5. Collecting Talk............................................................................................................................... 106 5.1 Methodological stance ........................................................................................................................ 106 5.2 Design of study .................................................................................................................................... 107 5.2.1 Interviews for collecting data ........................................................................................................ 108 5.2.2 Defining the participant pool ........................................................................................................ 110 5.3 Recruitment ......................................................................................................................................... 112 5.3.1 Refusals ......................................................................................................................................... 115 5.3.2 Participants.................................................................................................................................... 116 5.3.3 Researcher as a participant ........................................................................................................... 119 5.4 The interviews ...................................................................................................................................... 120 5.5.1 Planning the interviews ................................................................................................................. 120 5.5.2 Compiling questions ...................................................................................................................... 123 5.5.3 Interview structure ........................................................................................................................ 124 5.6 Transcribing and analysing the data .................................................................................................... 125 5.6.1 Transcription and notation ............................................................................................................ 125 5.6.2 Analysing the data ......................................................................................................................... 126 5.6.3 Analytical tools .............................................................................................................................. 128 5.7 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................... 129 Chapter 6. Discourses of Single Motherhood ................................................................................................ 131 6.1 The sexually stigmatised woman ......................................................................................................... 136 6.2 The neoliberal failure ........................................................................................................................... 145 6.3 The good mother like any other .......................................................................................................... 154 6.4 Chapter conclusions ............................................................................................................................