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The author of this book tries to “… critically examine aspects of the culture of everyday life that are so sacred, so deeply held, so taken for granted as to remain generally unquestioned and regularly treated as common sense.” I applaud the idea that all of human motivation and behavior, including motherhood and child rearing, should be open to critical inquiry. Psychoanalysis is based on this tenet (although psychoanalysis itself often fails to critically examine its own basic assumptions). However, I found this book problematic on a number of counts. The author has written a very interesting historical review and deconstruction of child rearing practices. However, she oversimplifies in formulating her hypotheses and conclusions, in what seems to be a promulgation of her own political views.
The author explores the logical inconsistency of two cultural belief systems as they affect mothers’ child rearing practices. She describes, on the one hand, a widespread societal focus on self-interested economic motives, and, on the other hand, the devotion of women to their children despite the fact that this devotion is counterproductive to their careers and, in some cases, to their economic gains. She terms modern child reading methods “the ideology of intensive mothering.” This term is used to describe giving large amounts of time, effort, and money to the rearing of children. She describes the opposing societal position as “… a commonly held view of human nature in general. According to this widely shared logic, any rational individual would seek to maximize her own interests (particularly her interest in material gain) without regard to the interests of others.”
The author reviews child rearing practices from an historical and cross cultural perspective. She then examines the assumptions and recommendations of three widely read child care manuals, written by Benjamin Spock, T. Berry Brazelton, and Penelope Leach. In an ethnographic analysis, she presents the results of 3