Constructing a Mothers’ Culture: Affective Bargains in Branding Discourses

Mary, Sophie M., Duschinsky, Robbie, Coughlan, Barry and Dunnett, Susan (2025) Constructing a Mothers’ Culture: Affective Bargains in Branding Discourses. Sociology. ISSN 1469-8684

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Abstract

The fantasy of traditional motherhood, according to which women find fulfilment through family care, still dominates market texts. However, there is increasing acknowledgement of motherhood’s difficulties, often in the very same texts. This tension is not immediately understandable; neither are its political and economic implications. We propose an explanation by deploying a Berlantian framework to analyse the new media presence of five brands targeting UK mothers. We identify a mothers’ culture: a market where motherhood’s difficulties are organised incessantly. We argue that mothers’ culture simultaneously validates traditional motherhood’s power to achieve the good life and provides therapeutic explanations and tactics to retain optimism when its lived experiences become too far removed from the fantasy of that good life. Combined, these mechanisms absorb the difficulties of traditional motherhood in a way that protects its promises of fulfilment. This prevents a questioning of the system of norms that effectively blocks this fulfilment.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Berlant; brand; discourse; media; motherhood
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > Marketing
Divisions:	School of Business > Staff Research and Publications
Depositing User:	Tamara Malone
Date Deposited:	30 May 2025 14:39
Last Modified:	30 May 2025 14:39
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/7715

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