Intensive mothering and informational habitus: Interplays in virtual communities

• Published date: 01 April 2023
• Author: Maryline Vivion,Benjamin Malo
• Date: 01 April 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12812

RESEARCH

Intensive mothering and informational habitus:

Interplays in virtual communities

Maryline Vivion

1,2,3

|Benjamin Malo

2,4

1

Faculté de médecine, Université Laval,

Québec, Québec, Canada

2

Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec-

Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada

3

Institut national de santé publique du Québec,

Québec, Québec, Canada

4

Département d’anthropologie, Université

Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada

Correspondence Benjamin Malo, 2 400 Avenue

D’Estimauville, Québec, QC G1E 6W2,

Canada.

Email: benjamin.malo@crchudequebec.

ulaval.ca

Funding information

MV and BM thank the Social Sciences and

Humanities Research Council of Canada for

its financial support. MV thanks the Fonds de

recherche du Québec for its financial support.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to explore how virtual com-

munities of mothers shape the informational habitus in the

context of the intensive mothering ideology.

Background: Mothers’involvement and dedication are

perceived as essential to children’s development. Some

mothers join virtual communities for health information

to ensure that they are doing the best for their child.

Method: An online ethnography in three virtual communi-

ties of mothers was conducted, in addition to individual

interviews with16 mothersof youngchildren (18 months

and below).

Results: Mothers use virtual communities for emotional

and informational support. Experiential knowledge and

referenced information are highly valuable. Furthermore,

mothers are reflexive and choose what information they

integrate based on their educational capital and their per-

sonal skills. Finally, choice appeared to be the practical

operator of the informational habitus.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that the sense of belonging

developed in virtual communities shapes a new informa-

tional habitus based on the importance of being an

informed mother.

Implications: Mothers want to make the best possible deci-

sions for their child’s health. To do so, they deploy reflex-

ive practices to process information. This suggests that

other than their physicians, they also trust an important

array of sources of information.

KEYWORDS

Canada, informational habitus, intensive mothering, online ethnography,

parenting

Author note: MV and BM thank Morgan Turgeon for her contribution to the linguistic revision of the article. Wefinally thank

participants who helped us in this study.

Received: 27 May 2022Revised: 20 September 2022Accepted: 13 November 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12812

© 2023 National Council on Family Relations.

406 Family Relations. 2023;72:406–425.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

BACKGROUND

The sociocultural construction of parenting: A look at intensive mothering

Parenting is a field of study investigated by many disciplines (Faircloth, 2020). The term parenting

culture studies has been coined to designate the field studying how parenting is developed, con-

structed, and what lies beyond “being a parent”(Faircloth, 2016). Numerous studies have illus-

trated that parenting takes on many forms across sociocultural contexts, which makes it a

contingent object of study at the intersection of norms, politics, and ethics (Sandin, 2017). For

instance, Western representations of parenting separate the public and private spheres, which

indicates a “privatization and individualization of the responsibility for children away from wider

community and into the realm of private”(Faircloth, 2016, p. 24). According to Sharon Hays,

this separation dates back to the industrialization era (Hays, 1996). She also states that childcare

has become a “sacralized”endeavor since the 1970s (Hays, 1996). Parenting cultures thus became

impregnated by a “deterministic view of parents and define expectations about how a parent

should raise their child”(Faircloth, 2016, p. 25). This suggests new ways to raise children.

In 1996, Hays published her book The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood where she

highlighted that Western mothers now go to great lengths for childcare. This intensive involve-

ment in their children’s well-being is what defines being a “good mother”: someone who puts

their children’s well-being at the center of their life, above their own. The representation of a

“good mother”today is closely related to the notion of “intensive mothering”developed by

Hays (1996). In her studies, she noticed that mothers did much more than what was expected of

them in raising their children. She also found that there was a belief that mothering should be

centered around children and that everything must be devoted to childcare, whether it is time,

labor, or material resources (Hays, 1996).

It is especially important to highlight how this ideology is stressful for mothers. In their way

of becoming “good mothers,”women experience a lot of pressure, which is positively correlated

to parental burnout (Meeussen & Van Laar, 2018). In Meeussen and Van Laar’s study (2018),

those who experienced the most pressure had a poor work–family balance that translated into

lower career ambitions. The stakes are high for women who are committed to the intensive

mothering ideology. If they fail this endeavor (e.g., if their child gets sick), mothers could be

blamed, which could lead to maternal guilt (Constantinou et al., 2021).

Studies conducted in Quebec, a French speaking Canadian province, indicate that represen-

tations of mothering are aligned with those of the West (Quéniart & Vennes, 2003). Some stud-

ies addressed motherhood in a migratory context and the interlinks with the intensive

mothering ideology (Dufour-Turbis & Hamelin-Brabant, 2019; Gervais et al., 2009). For exam-

ple, Dufour-Turbis and Hamelin-Brabant’s (2019) study highlighted how social isolation led

mothers to develop more autonomy as well as more anxiety, especially for those who believed

that “being a mother”represented a “sacrifice”or a “loss of freedom”(Dufour-Turbis &

Hamelin-Brabant, 2019, p. 757). Studies also highlighted how the representation of a “good

mother”is negotiated with scientific discourses on breastfeeding (Vallée-Ouimet et al., 2021;

Vallières, 2020). For instance, Vallée-Ouimet et al. (2021) found that even if not all their partici-

pants breastfed when the interviews were conducted, all of them initially wanted to. Despite

these studies, intensive mothering in Quebec is understudied.

Virtual communities and intensive mothering

The role of the internet, especially social media platforms, has become central to parental cul-

ture studies (Das, 2019). The scientific literature clearly highlighted that some women join

online communities (e.g., forums, Facebook groups, etc.) to obtain emotional support through

INTENSIVE MOTHERING AND INFORMATIONAL HABITUS407