Date of Award

8-19-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Sociology, MA

First Advisor

Monika Myers

Second Advisor

Gretchen Hill

Committee Members

Thomas Ratliff

Abstract

A number of historians have described 1820-1860 as a period of rigid gender ideology, a period of two "spheres". During this time, American men were active in the capitalist marketplace of the public sphere, while American women were confined to the domestic cares of the private sphere. Since childcare is a duty of private sphere, this gender-bifurcated narrative alleged that childrearing was a responsibility which inherently devolved upon the 1820-1860 mother. While research has demonstrated support for this model, so, too, has research provided support for a conflicting model. An alternative narrative portrays nineteenth-century childrearing as common domestic ground, a duty belonging to both parents. This paper is an investigation into the applicability of both models to childrearing ideals of 1820-1860 parenting manuals. A qualitative content analysis finds 3 allocations of childrearing duties: "Childrearing as a Mother's Duty", "Shared, but Separate Childrearing Duties", and "Equal or Indistinct Childrearing Duties".

Rights Management

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Included in

Sociology Commons

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