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Single Parents

Representations and Resistance in an International Context

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Examines representations and self representations of single parenthood in different national contexts and in various media
  • Considers societal attitudes towards single parents against the background of the rise of nationalism and rapidly shifting political landscapes of the twenty-first century
  • Explores the intersectionality of solo mothering and fathering, social class, minority experience and cultural conceptions of parenthood against dominant national discourses about inclusion, immigration, welfare support/austerity policies (housing and food security), inequality and family policy

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. Introduction

    • Disa Bergnehr, Berit Åström
    Pages 1-28
  3. Back Matter

    Pages 253-258

About this book

This edited volume addresses how single mothers and fathers are represented in novels, self-help literature, daily newspapers, film and television, as well as within their own narratives in interviews on social media. With proportions varying between countries, the number of single parents has been increasing steadily since the 1970s in the Western world. Contributions to this volume analyse how various societies respond to these parents and family forms. Through a range of materials, methodologies and national perspectives, chapters make up three sections to cover single mothers, single fathers and solo mothers (single women who became parents through assisted reproductive technologies). The authors reveal that single parenthood is divided along the lines of gender and socioeconomic status, with age, sexuality and the reason for being a single parent coming into play.

Chapter 11 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Language Studies, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Berit Åström

  • Department of Education, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden

    Disa Bergnehr

About the editors

Berit Åström is Associate Professor of English Literature at Umeå University, Sweden. Her research focuses on the representation of mothers, motherhood and mothering in literature, film and television. Her recent publications include The Absent Mother in the Cultural Imagination (2017).

Disa Bergnehr is Professor of Education at Linnaeus University, Sweden. Her primary research areas are (nuclear, single and refugee) family life, home-school relations, schooling in disadvantaged areas, children’s socialization, and children’s and parents' wellbeing and agency.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access