Social Support and Motherhood: The Natural History of a Research Project

by Ann Oakley

Overview

Drawing on her long experience as an academic researcher and writer, Ann Oakley develops a sociology of the research process itself, telling the story of how a research project is undertaken and what happens during it, to both researchers and those who are researched. This remarkable book focuses on a topic of great importance in the provision of health services – caring and social support. Setting neglect of this topic in the wider context of an ongoing crisis in gendering knowledge, Social support and motherhood is now reissued for a contemporary audience. It has much resonance for social science researchers and others interested in the experiences of mothers, and in the relations between social research, academic knowledge and public policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447349488
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2019
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	540
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.04(d)

About the Author

Ann Oakley is Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the UCL Institute of Education. A social researcher for more than 50 years, and author of many academic publications, she is also well known for her biography, autobiography and fiction. She founded both the Social Science Research Unit and the EPPI-Centre at the UCL Institute of Education, and has a long-term interest in gender, welfare, and the shaping of public policy.

Table of Contents

New Introduction v

Acknowledgement xii

Note on Numbers xiv

Introduction to the Original Edition xvi

1 Social Origins 1

2 'A Friend a Day Keeps the Doctor Away': Social Support and Health 24

3 Sickness in Salonica and Other Stories 50

4 Eve in the Garden of Health Research 86

5 A Bite of the Apple 107

6 Who's Afraid of the Randomized Controlled Trial? 137

7 'One of Mummy's Ladies' 169

8 Four Women 227

9 'Real' Results 293

10 Women at Risk 337

11 The Poverty of Research 378

12 Models of Knowing and Understanding 411

Appendix I Study Guidelines 430

Appendix II Publications from the Social Support and Pregnancy Outcome Study 458

Notes 461

References 466

Index 499