The research data comprises semi-structured interviews that have been conducted between 2005 and 2008 (N=18). The key themes emerging in the interviews include work, daily life in a family, leisure time and lifestyle choices. The method used in this study is discourse analysis, in which variation in language use in different contexts are objects of analysis.
The premise of this study is an idea that, in justifying their choices, the speakers use the assessment criteria and discursive means available in their culture. By exploring the meanings that the interviewees relate to leisure time and parenthood on one hand, and paid employment and career advancement on the other, the study aims to provide more understanding on the image produced by quantitative research on how individuals generally organise their lives and what sorts of tensions and conflicts are connected to this in society.
The study seeks to answer two questions. First, what discursive means do the interviewees use when reflecting on their lives and explaining their choices related to combining work and parenthood? Second, how do the interviewees interweave these discursive means in weighing and justifying their choices?
Five discursive means closely connected to the present context of discourse emerged from analysing the data comprising informal interviews: discourse related to running the family’s daily life, critical discourse concerning working life/career, discourse related to the children’s leisure time physical activities, discourse revealing divisions and preferences related to family culture and lifestyle, and discourse reflecting on the sore points of the work/career–family relationship in the past tense.
According to Helenius' interpretation, three publicly used, common discourses can be identified behind these situation-specific discursive means in the analysis: a) the discourse of good parenthood, b) the discourse of motherhood, and c) the discourse of career and working life.
The discourse of good parenthood is largely built on general views related to its opposite, bad parenthood, which creates fundamental tension in the discourse.
The discourse of parenthood involves maintaining a variety of oppositions and categorisations, of which the conflict regarding the different implementations of time spent together by parents and children can be interpreted as a permanent and therefore fundamental tension in the discourse.
In turn, the discourse of motherhood emerges as a discourse that involves defining the female gender in complex ways: it includes conflicts and meanings perceived in the context of combining work and motherhood, and normative and morally loaded perceptions of good motherhood.
In the discourse of motherhood, the interviewees formulated and specified the responsibilities and status of women with a family in contexts such as child care and the labour market. The discourse of motherhood has its foundations on the historically formed traditional role of mothers, which emphasises child and home care at the centre of the mother’s life. The discourse of the present era is characterised by fragmentation and response to various motherhood-related phenomena and trends changing in time.
The discourse related to career and working life can be probably considered as one of the most prevalent discourses in the current era. Particularly when including meanings related to career, this discourse contains a presumption of employees interested in their careers willing to adopt new skills and work-related roles in the constantly transforming working life.
However, the discourse on career is not considered to solely refer to this limited view: career discourse is also included in discourse used by individuals to justify their choices related to the working life beyond the ethos of personal development, emphasising an orientation in which work is merely a means to earn a living (a job) instead of goal-oriented and ambitious career advancement. While people participate in the discourse on career and working life in the same discursive space, they utilise this based on their individually oriented motives.
Helenius considers that the emergence of the previously mentioned discourses exceeds the study-specific limitations set by the interview situation and the interviewees’ life situations. She presumes that these three discourses would emerge even if the number of interviews (especially women’s interviews) conducted had been considerably higher or if the interviewees had represented a wider range of social backgrounds.
The research findings are reported not only in connection of the discourses summarised above, but also in making visible their various combinations occurring whenever they are used. This is apparent in both individual and more generally used diverse approaches of individuals to interweave these discourses when referring to the choices they make related to their lives.
Therefore, these results more generally also provide information about how individuals end up interweaving the different dimensions and meanings contained by discourse in varying ways when trying to make themselves understood in different discourse contexts.
The doctoral dissertation of Lic. Soc.Sc. Pia Helenius in the field of sociology titled Ura, lapset ja tavoiteltava perhekulttuuri: työn ja perheen jännitteitä koulutettujen naisten puheessa will be publicly examined the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tampere University starting at 2 o'clock PM on Wednesday 12 August. The Opponent is Docent Minna Nikunen from University of Jyväskylä. Academy Professor Pertti Alasuutari will act as the Custos. The dissertation defence is carried out through a remote connection and can be followed at
https://tuni.zoom.us/j/67152127876, meeting ID: 671 5212 7876
iThe dissertation is available online at
http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-1631-0