Chapter 8 - Synthesis: overview and discussion
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Different persuasive verbal codes were “you should work in order to become
economically independent”, or “caring for others is important”. Transmission of
these mental and verbal codes, examples of which include “the proper thing to
do” as perceived by parents, teachers, spouses, people at work, and “other people
out there”, appeared vital social contexts in which mothers developed their own
values and attitudes and made decisions about their lives.
Mothers’ preferences and actions are thus firmly embedded within their
shared and personal social structures. In getting a better understanding of people’s
choices, I would therefore argue that we must get closer to the collectiveness and
connectedness within people’s (prior) social relational contexts, rather than
emphasising the narrative of free choice. As Smart (2007)
has formulated, we
should prioritise the bonds between people.
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Epilogue
In this section I draw attention to a few issues that have received only moderate
attention in this study, as well as possible lines for future research and some
political implications.
1
The impact of social institutions on mothers’ employment
choices
This study is rooted in the sociological perspective of phenomenological
sociology. Phenomenology asks us not to take the notions we have learned for
granted, but to question them instead – to question our way of looking at and
being in the world (Wallace and Wolf, 2006, p.262). The emphasis on the micro
level, while investigating the origins of individuals’ diverse
behaviour within one
shared social system or society, entailed that the influence of macro institutions
on mother’s labour market decisions could be described historically and
theoretically in this study, but could not be directly, empirically investigated. In
this study it is recognised that mothers’ employment choices are constrained and
made possible by cultural gender norms, financial circumstances, the availability
and character of jobs, the business cycle of the labour market, and childcare
provisions.
Theoretically, it was assumed that these macro influences in the
Netherlands have similar consequences for all Dutch women. In the light of these
constraints and opportunities, mothers make choices regarding their amount of
time spent in paid work, though admittedly these choices are typically
engendered. Following this line, it was believed that a mother’s perception of
limiting or enabling external social institutions is intertwined with her own
gender values and
attitudes, which are partly a result of socialization.
Nonetheless, the interplay between the use or availability of external
provisions, for example professional childcare provisions, and mothers’ own
values and attitudes is not systematically investigated in this study, even though it
does make up part of the (albeit not statistically representative) qualitative study.
Moreover, although Dutch mothers are subject to the same Dutch social
institutions, these institutions might differ between regions, for example by local
insufficient supply of suitable jobs, a lack of childcare facilities or specific local
normative standards towards parenting, such as being strongly religious. In time,
a mother might adapt her gender and work values
and attitudes to these local
social institutional settings. On the other hand, the Netherlands is a small country
and it is unlikely that large groups of mothers subject themselves to social
Socialized Choices - Labour Market Behaviour of Dutch Mothers
208
surroundings that do not match their own values and attitudes, since this would be
contrary to the mechanism of self-selection that emerged in the qualitative study.
2
Hierarchical layers within socialization
Furthermore, this study has only very moderately shed light on the question of
how differences in mothers’ attitudes correspond to different socialization
processes related to their various socio-economic backgrounds or social classes.
Only the educational level of the mothers’ parents, which may act as a proxy for
social class, is included in the quantitative part of the study. Empirically,
respondents with more egalitarian gender values corresponded to those with
higher-educated mothers. Previous research has
demonstrated that parental
influences differ in accordance with their different socio-economic backgrounds
(Kraaykamp, 2009; Lareau, 2007). It would be interesting to investigate the
influence of different generations’ socio-economic backgrounds upon mothers’
orientations towards the labour market. By analysing a large Dutch sample, the
study of Cloïn (2010) demonstrated that different socio-economic backgrounds
only slightly add to the explanation of the diverse employment patterns between
higher and lower educated women. Lower educated mothers are more likely to be
in paid work if they had a mother who was in paid work herself when raising her
child; lower educated mothers tend to work more hours if their mother was higher
educated.
Presumably, in-depth qualitative research on parental socialization regarding
different socio-economic backgrounds would allow us to gain more insights with
respect to this question. For example, Lareau (2007)
has shown with qualitative
research that the mechanisms of the middle class and working class differ
significantly in terms of their transmission of social-cultural advantages.
Cumulative differences, like fostering children’s talents by offering structured
leisure activities and wider ways of thinking, defined as ‘concerted cultivation’,
creates advantages for middle-class children in how they interact with
professionals (doctors and educators) and other adults outside the home. It is not
hard to imagine that these different advantages among working-class and middle-
class children, based on ‘different senses of entitlement or distrust’, further
accumulate as they grow older, in particular from the moment
such individuals
join the labour market. In this respect, it would be interesting to employ
(observational participant) longitudinal research that is sensitive to how these
differences in socio-cultural inheritances among children influence their social
interactions in later life, in particular at specific turning points that affect their
later steps in the labour market. Nonetheless, it is clear that this type of research
is expensive and difficult to pursue, therefore a second best alternative would be
analysing people’s
life stories and behaviour, and then relating the differences
between their socio-economic backgrounds.