ORCID Identifier(s)

0000-0002-2074-4619

Graduation Semester and Year

2018

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Sociology

Department

Sociology and Anthropology

First Advisor

Beth Anne Shelton

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning handcrafting has for stay-at-home mothers, the reasons some mothers engage in handcrafting, and how the practice of handcrafting influences motherhood. Qualitative data on handcrafting were gathered from in-depth, in person interviews with nine stay-at-home mothers. The data highlights the struggles stay-at-home mothers face in their everyday lives and how handcrafting serves to help mothers manage motherhood expectations. Handcrafting is a form of obscured leisure because it provides the mothers in this study some escape from the pressures of mothering while also allowing the mothers to perform intensive motherhood to their peers, social groups, and on social media. This is possible because handcrafting is enjoyable but also provides goods for the family. Handcrafting allows mothers to focus on the well-being of their children, spouses, and home while also escaping the pressures of motherhood.

Keywords

Intensive motherhood, Crafting, Obscured leisure, Domesticity

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences | Sociology

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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