Journal Articles

Expertise and Sliding Scales Lactation Consultants, Doulas, and the Relational Work of Breastfeeding and Labor Support

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The combination of money and intimacy, particularly in the context of paid caring, can be difficult, given the tendency to view them as belonging to separate spheres. This research studied paid caring within the context of breastfeeding and labor support, using 72 interviews with lactation consultants, doulas, clients, and health care professionals, as well as 150 hours of ethnographic observation. Building upon the work of Viviana Zelizer, I examined the relational work of lactation consultants, doulas, and their clients, finding that this process is highly influenced by the way gender is mapped onto the separate spheres dichotomy. Lactation consultants, doulas, and their clients drew boundaries around their social relations to construct them as different from family care in order to legitimate the combination of money and intimacy. Lactation consultants and doulas both experienced tension in determining appropriate transactions and media for their care work, which illustrates how the separate spheres ideology can perpetuate the relative low pay of care work.

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Detail Information

Series Title

GENDER & SOCIETY

Call Number

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Publisher

Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications., 2015

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

0891-2432

Classification

NONE

Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

Volume 29, Issue 2 April 2015, pages 244-264

Subject(s)

Gender
Care work
Relational Work
Breastfeeding

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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