An exploration of the relationship between parent’s social

support and social leverage networks and their feelings and

decisions about employment.

By Hayley Limmer

A dissertation submitted to the

Department of Psychology and Speech Pathology
Manchester Metropolitan University
in part fulfilment for the degree of
BSc(HONS) PSYCHOLOGY

Supervised by: Kath Knowles APRIL 2005

1
Introduction
1.1 What is social capital?
In recent years Putnam (2000) has been labeled as the ambassador for social
capital. However, social capital is not a new concept and it has previously been
discussed by many other researchers, Coleman (1988) was just one of Putnam’s
predecessors (Harriss, 2002).

According to Coleman (1988) social capital doesn’t exist within people or

organizations, but in the relationships between them. Social capital exists in a
variety of forms, which all share two common features, they all have some links
with the social structure and they all facilitate some form of action. Thus, social
capital is productive, but it is also context specific, as a form of social capital which
is useful in one instance may be useless in another.

Social capital has been interpreted differently by different people, and there is no
unanimous agreement on how it originates (Dhesi, 2000). According to Putnam
(2000) social capital is based on the notion that social connections amongst
individuals are important. These social connections are dependent on reciprocity,
honesty and trust (Putnam, 2000), and are built up through repeated interactions
which allow shared norms and trust to be formed over time (Dhesi, 2000).

Social capital can come in different forms; it can be friends, family, acquaintances
or in an internet chat room. Briggs (1998) focuses on two forms of social capital
which he terms social support and social leverage. Social support is everyday aid
which one can turn to for small favours, emotional support and help in a crisis.
Such support helps those who have it ‘get by’. Social leverage on the other hand is
support that helps people ‘get ahead’, it can be in the form of someone who can
give information about job vacancies or can provide educational advice.

Briggs (1998) argues that people need to possess both types of social capital, and
gains in one cannot replace losses in another. For example parents who have lots
of social leverage may find it easier to gain employment, but may lack the social
support to deal with a stressful job and help with childcare. On the other hand a
parent may have good social support but lack the social leverage to network into a
workplace. However parents who lack both, may have the most difficult time
according to this theory, and it is these parents who may need the social capital
networks the most.

Thus according to this theory people with affluent stocks of social capital will have
many forms of support which they can turn to if they encounter any

2
problems. This also means that people with little social capital are at a
disadvantage because they have fewer contacts to turn to if they need help.

King and Waldegrave (2003) criticize both Putnam and Coleman, because
although they both have different focuses and theoretical backgrounds, they both
regard social capital as essentially a public good. They see this as a problem
because it diverts the attention away from the negative aspects of social capital,
for example how people are selected as eligible to join a social capital network.
Social capital is a resource and like other resources in society it is not distributed
evenly. People are discriminated against and denied access to social capital
networks. They are therefore disadvantaged because they are unable to accesses
useful resources to help them get by and get ahead.

Harriss (2002) argues that Putnam’s interpretation of social capital networks lacks
any focus on cultural/ideological content and context which is present in the work
of Bourdieu. According to King and Waldegrave (2003) Bourdieu’s social capital
can be interpreted in terms of a tool which can be used to help maintain or change
someone’s position in the social structure.

Bourdieu (1986) discusses social capital in terms of relationships between

individuals which entitles them to credit. These relationships are maintained by
material and symbolic exchanges. Social capital in these terms cannot be
completely separated from economic, cultural and symbolic capital as these may
influence the size of the network connections one can mobilize. Like discussed in
the previous paragraph Bourdieu (1986) also looks at group membership. He
discusses exchanges between members which help to define the limits of the
group and the criterion for membership, as the criteria is threatened by each new
member.

Harriss (2002) also argues that Putnam’s interpretation is misleading in that it

encourages local self help rather that suggesting a more equal distribution of
resources in society.

1.2 Some of the social capital that is available to parents of young children.
After considering briefly what social capital is, I then looked at it partly in relation to
parents of young children, examining some of the networks of support that are
available to them. Such social capital is productive in the sense that support
networks make parenthood easier to deal with. Figure 1 shows some of the
different forms of social capital that may be available to parents of young children.

Figure 1. Some of the different forms of social capital available to parents of

young children.

3
 Different possible
forms of social capital

Family Neighbours

Friends Mother and

baby groups

Partner
Internet
support groups

Different people have different amounts of social capital. Some people have more
than others (Putnam, 2000, King and Waldegrave, 2003, Cooper, et al, 1999).

The General Household Survey (Coulthard, et al, 2002) provides inconclusive

findings about the social capital networks of parents. It shows that they have fewer
networks with neighbours and more networks with friends when compared to non-
parents, whereas there was little difference between the two groups when looking
at relative networks. It also suggests that nearly 30% of parents do not interact
with friends at least once a week, and do not have a close friend who lives near
by. This figure was even higher when considering relatives, suggesting that there
are many isolated parents who are excluded from social capital networks. These
parents are therefore disadvantaged because they are lacking help and support
which is available to other parents.

It is also necessary to note that I have selected the overall scores gained within
these two areas of the survey. If one looks at the breakdown of the scores within
each area the picture is even more inconclusive. Despite this criticism this
research can be seen as useful because it gives an indication of social capital in
Britain, whereas most of the other research (Putnam 2000, Coleman 1988, Briggs
1998) is based on American society.

Clearly not all parents are isolated; Clark (1990) interviewed young lone mothers,
who identified friends, family and mother and baby units as important and
appreciated forms of support. It is important to stress that this research is not
attempting to focus on isolated parents it is merely an issue which will be explored.

4
Another example of social capital I located was Netmums, which is an internet
support network for mothers of young children. It allows mothers to interact with
each other online and also enables them the opportunity to arrange meetings with
other parents in their local area (www.netmums.com). A report by Netmums in
2004, surveyed 2000 Netmums members, asking them about the challenges
facing 21st century mothers. The report identified several factors which mothers
identified as leading stressors, these included loneliness, boredom and the
dilemma of whether to go into employment.

Dilemmas about employment were identified as a stressor to 45% of the mothers

surveyed. Various different reasons were proposed as to why this area was
indicated as a source of stress, these included: childcare problems, financial
worries and general anxiety regarding returning back to the work place. Clark
(1990) found that most of the mothers in her study were also concerned with
finding employment in the future; many wanted to go on training schemes when
their child was settled at nursery.

One could argue that the Netmums (2004) survey (and service in general) is
limited in that it only considers mothers who have internet access. Many mothers
cannot afford computers and internet connections so are excluded from this form
of support. Free internet access is available in some places for example libraries;
however it may not be practical for parents to use these facilities. Therefore, the
survey is likely to neglect parents from very low income families who don’t have
the money to purchase computers and internet packages.

However the Netmums (2004) survey does offer useful information. Many of the
participants chose to write extra notes alongside the survey. This prompted me to
consider alternative methodologies which I could used to investigate the area of
employment identified as a stressor by the Netmums (2004) report.

1.3 How does social capital influence parent’s reasons for seeking or
staying in employment?
After looking briefly at some of the social capital available to parents, I will now
look at how it specifically influences the reasons why parents do/don’t want to
seek, or stay in, employment. Figure 2 shows some of the different reasons why a
parent of a young child may want to seek or stay in employment.

Figure 2. Reasons why a parent may seek/stay in employment.

5
 Reasons to seek/stay in
employment

Financial Boredom
££

Social Friendship
pressures
Expectations of
Career
friends/family
advancement

Putnam (2000) highlights that whilst employment can be seen as primarily for
financial gain, it can also have a social dimension. He proposed that having
children changes the social networks of the parents. Informal socializing is
reduced and time spent at home and in community organizations increases. He
claimed employment was beneficial to single parents because it allowed them to
make social contacts and increase their civic engagement. Proposing that single
parents are often lacking social contacts and so may rely on their social networks
at work for support.

However women with partners may also feel isolated from social networks if they
are preoccupied with child rearing. They may desire social networks which are not
contingent upon their partner, thus the same could apply to parents in a
relationship as well as single parents. This is reflected in the Netmums (2004)
report where 92.2% of the mothers surveyed were living with a partner, yet 60% of
all the parents who took part were seeking more friends or closer friends. Similarly
loneliness was identified as a problem for 64% of the full time housewives
examined by Bonney and Reinach (1993). According to Putnam (2000) one way of
making new friends may be through employment.

However, it is worth noting that work places are not necessarily high in social
capital. Ritzer (2000) argues that workplaces are governed by the desire to
maximize efficiency, calculability and predictability. This has produced working
environments where employees are deskilled and carefully monitored to make
sure they are efficient. Similarly the customers are encouraged to pass through
the service as quickly as possible with minimal interactions. Fast food chains and
supermarkets are good examples of such work places, whilst the employees are
dealing with lots of customers the rules and regulations which govern their
6
workplace mean that is very difficult for staff to have meaningful interactions with
others and thus build up social capital networks at work.

Yet, employment could help parents build up social capital networks in other ways.
The wages earned can be spent on activities which allow interactions with others.
For example going to the gym or evening classes, which may allow parent’s to
build up friendship networks which they wouldn’t be able to financially afford if they
were not in employment. This appears particularly relevant to areas like those
noted by Cooper et al (1999) which lack free community facilities.

It is also important to note that close social networks are not always as beneficial
as they appear, when social capital is too strong, the members of the particular
community can become insular and exclude others (Cattell & Evans, 1999).

1.4 How could social capital influence the childcare decisions made by
parents?
As well as influencing the reasons parents might have for seeking or staying in
employment, social capital may also influence the practical aspects which impact
on employment, such as childcare.

Putnam (2000) claims people appear to be relying more on the law and formal
institutions to fulfill some of the roles which used to be done by informal networks.
This can be illustrated by people who lack social capital networks, as they may
have to seek paid childcare as they do not have anyone who can ‘help them out’ by
giving them free or reduced childcare.

From another angle those parents with little social capital may also have more
problems finding professional childcare. According to Sirianni and Friedland (n.d.)
social capital networks can aid communication, and help to test and verify
information on the trustworthiness of others. Therefore those parents with little
social capital may have limited information on who to trust with the care of their
children. This may act as a barrier to employment as it is making it more difficult
for them to find suitable childcare.

According to Hewison and Dowswell (1994) women without children face

difficulties entering employment because of the uneven distribution of housework.
When child care is also considered there are even more practical limitations facing
mothers who wish to enter employment. This indicates that women need more
social support networks than men to help them cope with childcare especially if
they have other commitments such as employment. This social support simply
helps them ‘get by’, and parents who are excluded from networks of social support
are going to find it more difficult to enter or stay in employment because they lack
help and support to aid them when dealing with life’s problems.

7
Although social support has been identified as important in helping with childcare,
parents often also need professional childcare facilities. This is evident when one
examines the large number of professional nurseries and child minders within our
society. However a lack of childcare facilities was acknowledged as a problem and
barrier to employment in the area examined by Campbell et al (1999). In this area,
the price of childcare was also problematic.

It would appear that some companies are acknowledging the problems posed by
child care and are introducing schemes to help their employees find affordable
and accessible, quality child care. The NHS claims that this scheme, where
implemented, has proven to be beneficial to both their employees and employers
(Daycare Trust, as cited in Department of Health, 2004). This scheme may be
useful to parents who are excluded from social support networks because the
company itself is providing some forms of support.

Alternatively, one form of work which may be practical for parents of young
children is working from home as this reduces the need for child care. Hopper
(2003) notes an increase in the number of people working from home enabled by
advances in technology such as computers, fast internet connections and fax
machines etc. Working from home enables employees to spend more time with
their family and save time spent traveling. However this form of employment has
disadvantages in that it restricts interactions with fellow employees and so can
reduce the friendship and support which accompanies many work relationships.
Thus this form of employment may be good for parents who desire employment
solely for the financial benefit, however it may be less well suited for parents like
mentioned by Putnam (2000) who are seeking to make social contacts and
increase their civic engagement.

1.5 How could social capital influence a parent’s ability to find a job?
Social capital may also be an important factor in actually finding employment. As
mentioned previously how trustworthy someone is can be communicated through
social capital networks (Sirianni & Friedland, n.d.). Therefore employers may be
less likely to give a job to someone totally unknown to the company as they do not
know how trustworthy they are. On the other hand applicants who are familiar with
staff at the company may be more likely to gain employment as they will have
‘references’ which may be more trusted.

According to Granovetter (1973) people often advance in or gain employment

though who they know not what they know. This means that people with few social
networks will be at a disadvantage because they have less chance of been told
about job leads or been given a ‘helping hand’to network into a work place. He
notes how peoples ‘weaker’ ties or acquaintances are more useful than ‘stronger’
ties when seeking employment. This is because ‘strong’ ties all hear about the
same openings as they are all connected. Whereas ‘weaker’ ties are unlikely to all
know one another and therefore can provide more information from different
sources.

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It is also important to note that in our uneven society, the social capital networks
possessed by an individual need to have norms, values and information flows
which are compatible with those in the employment system King and Waldegrave
(2003).

Strathdee (2001) found that the social networks used to help find employment had
declined over the years. Whilst this research focused on school to work transitions
it may have some parallels with the transition from unemployed parent to working
parent. According to Strathdee (2001) people with limited social networks which
could aid job seeking, tended to rely on training schemes which could link them
with employers. This ties in with Putnam’s (2000) claim that people appear to be
relying more on the law and formal institutions to fulfill some of the roles which
used to be done by informal networks.

1.6 Justification of the current research.

The aim of the current research was selected based on the following key points
highlighted in the literature review:

-Netmums (2004) identified dilemmas about employment as a stressor for some

parents. Therefore I want to investigate employment decisions made by parents of
young children.

-I chose to look at employment decisions in relation to social capital because:

>Putnam (2000) suggests that social capital may influence the reasons why
parents seek or stay in employment, as employment may be a way of increasing
social networks.
>Hewison and Dowswell (1994) and Campbell et al (1999) highlight childcare as a
barrier to employment.
I want to see if parent’s social support and social leverage have an influence on
their ability to find suitable childcare.
>Granovetter (1973) and Strathdee (2001) suggest that social capital networks are
important when searching for employment.
As a result I want to look at social support and leverage networks drawn upon by
parents when seeking employment.

-Briggs (1998) claims that social support and social leverage are the most
important aspects of social capital. I am also going to focus on these two aspects
of social capital.

1.7 Why is the research needed?

The literature review highlights that parent’s may find employment to be a source
of stress. With many parents in paid work, any problem in this area could be
deemed worthy of investigation. Social support and social leverage may be useful
ways of examining employment decisions made by parents. This

9
approach could potentially highlight barriers that face parents when returning to
the workplace.

1.8 Aim: To explore the relationship between parents social support and social
leverage networks and their feelings and decisions about employment.

After stating the aim of this research, it is also important to describe how the
research attempts to be framed.

Traditional mainstream psychological research has been criticized for neglecting

wider social influences on people’s behaviour. This approach blames the
individual for socially constructed problems and so helps to maintain and reinforce
the unequal distribution of resources in society (Fox and Prilleltensky, 1997).
Therefore the current research attempts to evaluate some current policy (Flexible
working, Working tax credit and the childcare element of WTC, see Appendix 1)
which may influence parents, their social capital, and employment decisions.
Although I am looking at individual experiences, it is important to look at some of
the wider social context within which they exist.

In line with this approach Bourdieu’s (1986) critical standpoint may be a more
useful way of framing social capital as Putnam (2000) and Coleman (1988) tend to
adopt more functionalist positions, ignoring the way that social capital can be a
tool of power.

10
Methodology
2.1 Qualitative approach.
A qualitative approach has been adopted for this research, this is relevant
because the research aim is to explore rather than measure the impact of social
support and social leverage on parents employment decisions (Green &
Thorogood, 2004).

This approach acknowledges the context, power relations and different meanings
which arise during the process of the research (Marecek et al, 2001). The
qualitative approach does not attempt to uncover ‘more’ data as this itself is a
quantitative proposal; rather it provides a different way of representing the
phenomenon under investigation (Burman, 2001).

According to Marecek et al (2001) the qualitative approach seeks to investigate

peoples lived experiences, this approach is thus useful for looking at parents
experiences of social support/leverage and how this impacts upon their
employment decisions.

Unlike quantitative research, the full aim of the research is not always known until
after the data has been collected. This is because the aim of the research may
develop along side the research process. This will be explored in more detail in
the reflective analysis section of the discussion (Foster & Parker, 1995).

2.2 Participants.
Participant profiles
All the participants were women this was not intentional as I was hoping to also
interview some male parents. The research was not intended as a study of
gender.

Five participants were used in the study (Lynn, Jen, Di, Kat and Amy), they were
all white women aged over thirty years old, except Lynn who was aged less than
thirty.

Lynn and Amy currently had children aged under five. Whereas the others had
children who had been aged under five within the last five years. Therefore these
latter parents were talking in retrospect about the period from when their children
were born till the time when they started school.

The study only focused on the parents experiences before their child started
school. This was because once children go to school their parents are faced with
different commitments such as school hours and holidays. These factors were
excluded from the research in an attempt to make the mothers experiences more
comparable.

All the women differed in their age, educational background, employment status
and family circumstances. For a brief profile of the participants see Appendix 2.

11
The researcher
It is important here to introduce myself as the researcher because I am also a
participant in the research process. I am a 20 year old female who is not a parent.
I selected this research topic as a result of informal conversations with a close
friend of mine who has a young child. She was discussing her desire to return to
work but highlighted that she faced many problems when trying to do so. This
helped to develop my interest in social capital and the employment decisions
made by parents of young children.

Sampling
Opportunity sampling was used to recruit all the parents (Foster & Parker, 1995)
except in the case of Amy where self selected sampling was used (Coolican,
1999); the entire sample was recruited through personal communication.

Lynn was a friend of mine for several years.

Jen was my auntie.
Di was a friend of my mother.
Kat was a new friend from university and Amy was one of my lecturers.
With the exception of Amy I approached all of the participants and asked them to
take part in the research. Amy approached me during an informal meeting as she
was aware of the research because she worked in the university department.

The parents were approached either during face to face interactions or through
telephone calls, where they were asked if they would like to take part in the
research. Although the conversations were quite informal they were guided by the
briefing sheet, see Appendix 6. Thus, the potential participants were told about the
study and why I was conducting the research, they were informed of the full aim of
the research and what method I was planning to use. They were also told about
what ethical rights that they were entitled to as a participant in the research. When
the participants agreed to take part in the research, which they all did an interview
time and date was arranged. The participants were appropriately briefed, thus they
were fully informed when they proceeded to the actual interview arrangement. The
briefing was then repeated before the interview took place to ensure that informed
consent was obtained.

Adverts were also placed on notice boards around university and although one
initial reply was received the follow up one was not. For an example of the advert
see Appendix 3.

2.3 Interviews
According to Burgess (1984) interviews can be described as ‘conversations with a
purpose’ (pp102). The rationale behind interviewing is that it is possible to
investigate a phenomenon by asking people to talk about it, from there the data
can be analyzed and meanings constructed around it (Mason, 2002).

12
Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data; two of the interviews
were followed up with personal communication through conversations and one
email. Semi-structured interviews were used because they allowed the researcher
to steer the interview in the direction desired. Yet at the same time they also
enabled the interviewee to determine which topic areas were given more
importance and the amount of information they wished to disclose (Green &
Thorogood, 2004).

Interviews can be interpreted as language used to give accounts of the world but
not exact representations of it. One could argue that what is said in an interview
may not represent what actually happens in reality. Interviews from a positivist
perspective could be interpreted as inaccurate representations of a phenomenon
which have little scientific value (Green & Thorogood, 2004). However one could
argue that the meanings and distortions incorporated into any conversation is just
additional information that is very relevant when investigating the meanings and
experiences of those involved.

An advantage of using a semi-structured interview is that the questions asked can

be changed and adapted to fit the needs of each different interviewee. This can be
seen as better than the standardized procedures which are applied to structured
interviews and administering questionnaires. The unstandardized approach may
be deemed more suitable to the needs of the interviewee (Banister et al, 1994).
This may be important because as a researcher it is necessary to try and leave
the participant with a positive view of psychological research.

Open-ended questions allowed the interviewee to provide their own unique

response. This was important in the current study as when looking at someone’s
unique experiences they need to be given the opportunity to talk in depth and
explain what they feel. This is very different to choosing from a limited number of
fixed responses like in a questionnaire that uses closed questions (Wilkinson et al,
2004).

2.4 Interview schedule

For a copy of the interview schedule, which includes a justification for the question
topics, see appendix 4.

2.5 Pilot Interview

A pilot interview was conducted and although the questions were not changed, it
highlighted that more prompting questions were needed in future. The interview
schedule was adapted slightly for each interview depending on whether it needed
to be phrased in past or present tense.

A reflective analysis of each interview was done within two days of the interview.
After the first three interviews were evaluated, the interview schedule was
modified. The ordering of questions was changed because the first couple of

13
questions were not prompting particularly detailed responses. This was not
providing the interviews with a good start and so the questions were put later
where participants appeared to talk about them in more detail. For a copy of the
reflective interview evaluations see appendix 5.

2.6 Interview arrangements

Once a parent had agreed to take part in the research an interview was arranged.
Some of the interviews took place in the participant’s homes, one in their office
and one in a university classroom. They all took place around mid day. The
interviews were arranged when it convenient for the participants, sometimes this
was quite hard for the researcher as lectures had to be missed in order to meet
the participants. This was partly anticipated as it was expected that the parents
would be quite limited in the time they had available to conduct an interview.

When the interviews took place in the parent’s home, the parent’s made some
form of arrangement to occupy their child so the interview was not disrupted.
Similarly some of the interviews were arranged at a time when their children were
not at home. This was not requested but it was very helpful as it made it easier to
conduct the interviews.

Before the interviews the participants were verbally reminded of the full aim of the
research and they were informed of their ethical rights. The recorded interviews
then took place, guided by the interview schedule but were ultimately determined
by the responses given by the participant.

The interviews varied in length from twenty to sixty minutes depending on the
depth of discussion provided by the women.

Following the research the participants were again verbally reminded of their
ethical rights and they were provided with my contact details so they could contact
me if they had any queries.

2.7 Apparatus
An audio cassette recorder and blank cassettes were used to record the
interviews. The interviews were guided by the interview schedule (see Appendix
4).

2.8 Ethics
This research was ethically approved by the Manchester Metropolitan University
ethics committee and so adhered to the British Psychological Society guidelines.

The participants were verbally informed of the full aim of the research before they
took part so they were not misled. They were told that they could withdraw from
the research at any point during the interview and that they could also request to
have their data destroyed after the interview. Their permission was requested to

14
tape record the interviews, and they were told that it was perfectly acceptable if
they did not want to answer any of the questions.

It was emphasized that it was their views that were important and that I as the
interviewer was a novice who was learning from their experiences. This I hoped
would make them feel more in control of the interview and so put them at ease.
The parents also chose the location of the interview and so I hoped that this would
also help to keep them relaxed.

They were informed that their data would be anonymous as their names and work
places would be changed, however the data would be seen by people within the
university and so it would not be confidential. For a copy of the briefing and
debriefing procedure used see Appendix 6.

The participants were provided with my contact details so they could contact me if
they had any queries or concerns about the research.

2.9 Transcribing interviews

The interviews were transcribed within one week of taking place. They were
transcribed by myself, this was important as I felt that I processed the information
more than if someone else had transcribed them on my behalf.

Each interview was transcribed and reflected on before the next interview was
conducted. Most of my reflective analysis was conducted within two or three hours
of each interview to help improve my novice interviewing technique. This proved
useful and as my confidence as an interviewer improved, so did the flow of the
interviews. (See Appendix 5 for the reflective analysis.)

2.10 Thematic analysis

A thematic analysis was conducted on the interview transcripts. This method of
analysis was selected because it allowed reoccurring themes in the interview
transcripts to be identified (Joffe & Yardley, 2004). This complemented the
exploratory aim of the research as it allowed for important repeated issues to be
highlighted. However it also allowed the freedom for topics deemed important to
be assigned meanings and discussed in a relatively in-depth manner.

Smith (1995) provides a useful guide to conducting a thematic analysis this is

summarized in table 1.

Table 1: A table to summarize the thematic analysis process (Smith, 1995)

Stage Procedure
1 Read through the transcript and in the left margin write down
any comments, preliminary interpretations or summaries that
are perceived as relevant.
2 In the right margin try and identify relevant themes and select
a word or phrase to summarize the theme.

15
 3 On a separate page of paper note down the emerging
themes and try to express the different relationships between
the themes.
4 Produce a list of overarching themes.
5 Revisit the transcript and record the line numbers where each
them is located.

16
Analysis
3.1 Overview
From the interview transcripts (see Appendix 7) each interview was individually
analysed and themes were selected from it. The summaries of the individual
analyses are provided in Appendix 8.

Following this an analysis was conducted across the different interviews and
common themes relating to the research aim were selected. For clarity these
themes have been summarised in table 2, a more detailed explanation and
supporting evidence is also provided.

Table 2: A table to show the themes and sub themes selected.

Themes Sub- themes
1. Social aspect of -Loneliness
work -Parenting support
-Adult needs

2. Social networks -Advice from friends

used to find -Childcare provided by family
childcare -Vulnerability

3. Accessibility of -Location of childcare

childcare -Flexible nurseries

4. Informal job -Friends or acquaintances

seeking -Within the organization

5. Employment -Restrict job location

adapted to fit -Work from home
around childcare -Compromise career
-Equality
-Flexible employment

6. Social -Working mothers positioned as guilty parents

pressures -Mothers encouraged to stay at home

3.2 Themes selected across interviews.

Themes 1, 2 and 4 seem quite obviously linked to social support and social
leverage as they are based around social networks. However themes 3, 5 and 6
are more implicitly linked to the research aim. At the end of the analysis section
(see 3.26) the more implicitly linked themes are integrated more, but they are fully
explored in the discussion section.

(The brackets after each quote refer to the interview number followed by the line
numbers from which the quote has been copied.)

17
3.3 Theme 1. Social aspect of work
Although employment was identified to be primarily for financial gain, it also
appeared to have an important social dimension. This theme could be divided into
three sub themes: loneliness, parenting support and adult needs.

3.4 Sub-theme: Loneliness

Lynn, the unemployed parent, seemed to perceive employment to have a social
benefit. This could be linked with her feelings of loneliness. When her partner was
at work she spent a lot of time alone at home with her son, which she found quite
isolating. She appeared to view work as a way of meeting new people and getting
out of the house.

(when working) ‘you’re not stuck at home all day on your own, and you’re getting
out and meeting new people, and making friends.’ (2. 111-112)

Similarly Jen mentioned the isolating aspect of child minding and cited this as one
of the reasons why she took a different job at the play group. She also mentions
her friends from a previous job highlighting the social aspect of work.

‘I gave up the child minding to go and work at the playgroup. And that was better
because I was meeting much more people.’ (3. 124-126)

‘I had my network of friends that I’d had from working in the office.’ (3. 225-226)

3.5 Sub-theme: Parenting support

Di particularly appreciated the support of her work colleagues, and she appeared
to have less friendship networks out of work.

‘I get my social chit chats at work’ (4. 320-321)

Parenting support was available at work through informal chats where her
colleagues discussed their experiences. Di also gained advice on suitable
childcare through her friends at work (this is referred to in theme 2).

I can go to work and say ‘Oh Mel (her daughter) is driving me mad at the moment
she’s getting to that stroppy age’ and one of the girls is like ‘oh my daughters like
that’ yeah and I find that absolutely brilliant because, sometimes you know your
kids can really drive you up the wall, but to hear other people in the same situation
that’s just like brilliant.’ (4. 85-89)

3.6 Sub-theme: Adult needs

Amy appeared to have a quite vast social network, but did also acknowledge the
social benefit of working along side other people. Her work colleagues appeared
to help to separate her roles as a parent and as a professional. There seemed a

18
desire to engage in adult conversation that was not centered on being a parent
and this was provided at work.

‘I think that there are good reasons for working and I think that it locates you very
firmly in a grown up world, and whilst it is lovely spending time with children and
sat with children, it is nice to have adult conversation and adult needs.’ (6. 27-30)

‘I think that must be really difficult if you do give up work and you want to talk
about other things when lots of people continue to want to talk about children non-
stop.’ (6. 504-506)

3.7 Theme 2. Social networks drawn upon to find childcare

Social networks were used find childcare by most of the parents. It seemed that
been able to get recommendations or know someone who could provide childcare
was a useful resource for parents returning to employment. Advice was often
provided by friends, and in two cases family members provided the childcare. It
was highlighted that parents without networks to help them find childcare were at a
disadvantage.

3.8 Sub-theme: Advice from friends

Friends were often consulted about what childcare they were using or if they could
recommend any childcare.

‘I spoke to my friends, and three of em were sending their children to the same
nursery and they were all going to me how good it was so I went there.’ (1. 118-
119)

For Di her friends at work helped her to find trustworthy employment, again
highlighting the benefits of social networks at work.

‘actually the lady that owned the nursery he used to go to she had been a nursery
nurse at the hospital, previously and she had left and bought a nursery and so
quite a few of the girls knew her and said ‘oh she’s’ I didn’t know her but they said
‘oh she’s lovely, she was really nice’ and so that was a really big help.’ (4. 203-
210)

3.9 Sub-theme: Childcare provided by family

Alternatively in some cases family members were also able to provide childcare,
so childcare was linked to the family network. For example Jen’s mother helped
out with some of her childcare.

‘Amy went to the nursery on the Tuesday and my mum had her on the Monday
and the Wednesday morning.’ (3. 322-324)

19
Been able to rely on a trustworthy family member to provide childcare was
particularly relevant to Kat, who was very selective about childcare because of her
son’s medical condition.

‘my auntie was on hand so she looked after Sam so I knew Sam was safe’ (5. 39-
40)

3.10 Sub-theme: Vulnerability

It also appeared that when social networks were not available to help find
trustworthy childcare parents felt quite vulnerable, this could be a barrier to
employment. For example Amy mentioned feeling quite vulnerable because her
social networks were not particularly child friendly so she lacked
recommendations.

‘I didn’t know that many people with kids so I didn’t have much access to that
(information on trustworthy childcare). … I suppose really you just feel a bit in the
dark … it is not easy as a process; it makes you fe el quite vulnerable really.’ (6.
277-288)

Di on the other hand moved house which meant that she didn’t know any parents
in her new area who could provide her with childcare recommendations; she
identified this as a difficulty.

‘coming here and going to a different nursery I didn’t know anybody in this area at
all, so that was very difficult. I had to just trust on instinct really.’ (4. 215-217)

3.11 Theme 3. Accessibility of childcare

Whilst recommended childcare was viewed as important this appeared to be
balanced with the practicality of accessing the childcare. Thus the helpfulness of
social capital could be outweighed by other factors such as the location and
flexibility of the nursery. As pointed out by Amy parents are positioned in the role
of consumer when choosing childcare however in reality there isn’t that much
choice. Parents really have little say in what nurseries can accommodate their
needs. Therefore recommendations may be useful but only to a certain point as a
nursery could be recommended but this doesn’t necessarily mean you will get a
place.

‘It is quite a difficult thing I think to manage because you’re kinda pitching the role
of consumer, but really there is not a lot of choice you have just got to go with it.’
(6. 263-265)

3.12 Sub-theme: Location of childcare

20
The distance and time required to travel to the recommended childcare seemed to
be very influential. For example, Jen chose a nursery near to her workplace to
make it more convenient to drop off and collect her child.

‘it was best to have one near and that was the nearest one to my work that was
why I chose it.’ (3. 356-357)

Amy also highlighted that she was not prepared to travel vast distances in order to
get a unique nursery provision.

‘I wasn’t prepared to drive a long way to give them a particular nursery provision.’
(6. 301-302)

3.13 Sub-theme: Flexible nurseries

In the case of Di, whether the childcare could offer flexible hours to accommodate
her shift work was a determining factor. In her case recommended childcare may
not be compatible with her requirements and so it is only useful to a certain extent.

‘because I don’t work set days and most people work Monday Tuesday
Wednesday, I can work any day of the week Monday to Sunday. So I had to find a
nursery that would accommodate that.’ (4. 147-149)

3.14 Theme 4. Informal job seeking

Most of the parents returned to work at the place where they were previously
employed; however the majority worked less hours. Of the women who changed
employment, some of their jobs were recommended by friends or acquaintances.
The other women anticipated job opportunities to be publicized within the
organization and this did happen for Jen.

3.15 Sub-theme: Friends or acquaintances

The two women who did enter a new work place found job vacancies through
friends and acquaintances.

Jen changed her employment after becoming a parent and she found some of her
jobs through informal communication, for example when she worked at a pub her
employer was a family friend.

(Jen’s employers at her pub job) ‘they were like family friends’ (3. 187)

After the interviews Lynn applied for a job recommended by an acquaintance

(Personal communication Jan 05). This was interesting as she had stated that she
would approach the Job Centre first for information on job opportunities.

‘going to the Job Centre.’ (2.124)

21
Yet when prompted she said that she would have also asked friends about job
vacancies.

‘I’d ask around my friends as well’ (2. 129)

3.16 Sub-theme: Within the organization

Amy and Di both mentioned that any future employment opportunities would
probably be heard of within their organizations.

‘I think in nursing you know that a job is coming up, within internally so it is an
internal job and you just apply for it then.’ (4. 278-279)

Amy did say that she would use her existing work colleagues to find out about the
other academic departments if she was changing her employment.

(If Amy was searching for another job) ‘I would use my work contacts to judge how
each academic department was.’ (6. 347-348)

This sub- theme is also relevant to Jen as she was notified of a job vacancy at the
play group whilst volunteering at the organization.

‘I used to help out there (playgroup) on occasions and then they asked me if I’d go
and work there.’ (3. 213-214)

3.17 Theme 5. Employment adapted to fit around childcare

Most of the parents appeared to adapt their employment to fit around their
childcare rather than adapt their childcare to fit their employment decisions. For
example Lynn anticipated having to select a job near to the location of her nursery.
Jen on the other hand began working from home so she could provide her own
childcare. Di decided to return to work on a part time basis, even if this meant
compromising their career development. One could interpret these examples in
terms of childcare acting as a barrier to employment advancement.

Amy was the only parent who continued to work full time and this could have been
linked to her flexible employment and her partner sharing the childcare
responsibilities.

3.18 Sub-theme: Restrict job location

Although Lynn was not currently working, she anticipated having her employment
opportunities restricted by the location of the child care. She predicted that she
would have to select a job in close proximity to the childcare provider. This would
be done to save the amount of money that she would have to pay for her son to
have more time in childcare. This could also be linked to Lynn’s inability to drive
which meant that she would have to find a nursery within walking distance of her
home and place of work.

22
‘I’d only be able to get like erm, a nine till five job basically because I’d have to
drop him off first and then I’d have to pick him up afterwards as well, and I could
only really get one in town basically… when I’m tra velling it would knock off a lot
of my time when he’s already at nursery, so I wouldn’t have time to travel to
places as well, so I’d have to get it quite near.’ (1. 163-171)

3.19 Sub-theme: Work from home

In the case of Jen she even changed career path to adapt her job around her
childcare. She chose to start working from home as a child minder so she could
provide her own childcare.

‘I decided that I would try, go and do this child minding course so that I could go
and work from home’ (3. 95-96)

3.20 Sub-theme: Compromise career advancement

When Di returned to work after becoming a parent she wanted to work on a part
time basis in order to balance working with her parenting demands. At the time
sisters had to work full time so she had to drop down to a staff nurse in order to
work her desired hours. However, that year the legislation changed which meant
that she could become a part time sister. Yet this clearly demonstrates that she
was willing to compromise her career to work part time. Di acknowledges that she
was making a compromise, she highlights that her competency did not change as
a result of parenthood, and it was quite right that she should be able to maintain
her previous position.

‘and the policy at the time was that you had to be a full time sister you couldn’t be
a part time. So I, when I was on mat leave I just thought well I don’t care I’m not
doing full time with a baby with a child, I just thought what’s the point you know so
I thought well I’ll drop down to been a staff nurse you know that’s just the way it is.‘
(4. 253-257)

‘I think I was just as the family friendly things were coming in and she said well
actually, you can come back still as a sister. And I was one of the first ones to be
able to do that part time as a sister… quite rightl y, my skills didn’t change just
because I’d had a baby, it was just the fact that I wanted to work less hours.’ (4.
259-263)

3.21 Sub-theme: Equality

The exception to this theme was Amy who did not adapt her work around her
childcare as she continued to work full time. However her partner appeared to
share half of the childcare responsibilities. This support may have facilitated her
ability to maintain working full time.

‘the childcare has always been split.’ (6. 592-593)

3.22 Sub-theme: Flexible employment

23
The flexible working hours of both Amy and her partner could also have been
relevant, as this would make balancing childcare easier. This could also have
facilitated her ability to return to work on a full time basis.

‘the easiest thing is having the two of you with this kinda of job’ (6. 207-208)

3.23 Theme 6. Social pressures

A theme which arose in Amy’s interview I feel is particularly important and as a
result I have included it as a central theme. Amy highlights some of the social
pressures which surround mothers. For example the notion that good mothers
should stay at home with their children rather than go out to work and use
childcare. She also mentioned that a lot of parenting activities encourage women
to stay at home rather than engage in the community.

3.24 Sub-theme: Working mothers positioned as guilty parents

Amy perceived the possibility of been labeled as a poor mother because she was
not devoting all of her time to solely been a parent. This position blames the mother
for having aspirations, such as career goals, which are outside of the family unit.
This ideology appears to be reinforced by psychology which encourages mothers
to be devout to their children, with notions of ‘a good enough mother’.

(The decision to remain in employment) ‘it is very linked in to erm societal

pressures. So I think that there is a huge pressure not to work and all the research
on nursery provision positions you as a bit of a guilty mum in a way or a poor mum
for leaving them in long term nursery care or child care provision’ (6. 24-27)

3.25 Sub-theme: Mothers encouraged to stay at home

Linked with the first sub theme is the way that society encourages women
regardless of their employment status, to stay indoors with their children. This
discourages them from engaging in their community and increasing their social
capital networks. Activities such as breast feeding are thought of as natural and
beneficial for the child, however it is not encouraged in public places and so
effectively implies that women to stay in the home as opposed to seeking
employment. Thus social pressures can be seen to be isolating mothers from their
communities.

‘I just think that some activities that mothers think are to do with being good
mothers make them housebound rather than allowing them to go out and be
sociable.’ (6. 584-586)

(motherhood) ‘it is very focused on the mum and the baby; it is not focused on a
community’ (6. 578-579)

3.26 Results summary

24
A useful way of examining the results is to present them in the form of a diagram.
This could help to demonstrate how the different themes interact with each other.

Figure 3: A diagram to show the themes selected from across the interviews.

Advice from friends

Adult needs

Childcare

Loneliness provided by family

5
Vulnerability

Parenting The need for

support flexible nurseries

Socia
l networks

draw
n upon to The location of
find childcare
Social childcare

aspect of
1 Accessibility of
work
childcare

4
6
3 2
Informal job

seeking Employment

adapted to
7
fit around
Within the
childcare
organization

Social
 Equality-
Friends or pressures
feminism

acquaintances

Mothers

Restrict job
encouraged to
location
stay at home

Flexible
Working mothers
employment
are positioned as

guilty parents
Work from home

Compromise career

25
As shown in the above diagram the themes are interlinked. The linking lines are
numbered and can be paired with the explanations below.

1. The social networks that parents used to help them find trustworthy
childcare appeared to be linked to the accessibility of the childcare. For
example the location and flexibility of the childcare seemed to be weighed
up with the childcare recommendation.

2. Another important theme was that parents were perceived as vulnerable

when they lacked social networks that could provide advice on trustworthy
childcare. This could be linked to the social pressures which encourage
mothers to stay at home, effectively isolating them from these useful social
networks. Thus social pressures could be seen as reducing mother’s ability
to increase their social capital, and so hinder their ability to enter
employment.

3. Loneliness and the desire for adult conversation were sub-themes

identified as reasons why parents may want to enter or remain in
employment. However these desires appeared to conflict with the social
pressures which encouraged women to be housebound.

4. The social aspect of work could be seen as linked to informal job seeking,
as some of the parents anticipated been informed of job opportunities from
their contacts within their existing organization.

5. For Di the social aspect of working was linked to her ability to find
trustworthy childcare as she consulted her friends at work for childcare
advice.

6. The ability to fit childcare around employment could be seen as constrained

by the accessibility of the childcare available.

7. The perceived need to fit childcare around employment could be seen as

linked to equality in the distribution of childcare in parents who have a
partner. This could then be taken a step further to question the societal
pressures which have shaped notions of gender and childcare that have
led to equality been the exception as opposed to the rule.
26
Discussion
This section will discuss and elaborate on the themes identified in the analysis.
The method will also be evaluated, limitations of the research will be highlighted
and recommendations made where appropriate. A reflective analysis is included to
acknowledge influences brought to the research by myself as the researcher.

4.1 Summary of results

To briefly recap
1. Social the six
aspect of themes
work were identified:
2. Social networks used to find childcare
3. Accessibility of childcare
4. Informal job seeking
5. Employment adapted to fit around childcare
6. Social pressures

4.2 Findings in relation to the aim and literature.

I will now relate the results back the aim of the research which was:

To explore the relationship between parents social support and social leverage
networks and their feelings and decisions about employment.

Social support and social leverage (Briggs, 1998) can be examined independently
but are overlapping in some areas. For readability I will repeat these definitions:

>Social support is everyday aid which one can turn to for small favours, emotional
support and help in a crisis. Such support helps those who have it ‘get by’.

>Social leverage on the other hand is support that helps people ‘get ahead’, it can
be in the form of someone who can give information about job vacancies or can
provide educational advice.

I will first discuss the themes which are ‘explicitly’ linked to social support and
social leverage, and then I will attempt to relate the themes which are more subtly
linked.

4.3 Themes ‘explicitly’ linked to social support and social leverage.

Social Support- All of the parents claimed to have enough social support. Yet at
the same time the social support gained from employment was highlighted as
Theme 1. It appeared that some of the parents felt quite lonely and so perceived
employment to offer conversation and stimulation. Similarly the employed parents
acknowledged that their jobs offered a place to get emotional support. Their work
colleagues were often also friends who could offer support surrounding parenting
issues. This supports Putnam’s (2000) claim that employment offers parents an
opportunity to increase their civic engagement. It

27
also supports the idea that some full time housewives may be lonely and isolated
(Bonney & Reinach, 1993).

Social Leverage- This was evident in the informal job seeking (Theme 4) used by
the mothers to obtain or advance in employment. This supports Granovetter
(1973) who stresses that people gain or advance in employment through who they
know not what they know.

Social support and leverage was also present in Theme 2, which looked at how
the parents used their social support networks to help them find trustworthy
childcare. Family and friends were stated as useful support for parents, this
supports Clark (1990).

However this could also be interpreted in terms of social leverage as finding

trustworthy childcare was seen as a barrier to employment. When parents lacked
any network or source of advice they were highlighted as vulnerable. Thus parents
without this social leverage were at a disadvantage when trying to get ahead in
employment.

The notion that social capital networks help to communicate information about the
trustworthiness of people and places (Sirianni and Friedland, n.d.) is supported by
Theme 2. This theme emphasizes that parents use their social capital networks to
help judge the trustworthiness of the childcare that is available.

It also reinforces the claim that childcare is a barrier to employment for mothers
returning to work (Hewison and Dowswell, 1994). This is also apparent in Theme 5
which suggests that women ‘choose’ to fit their mployment around their childcare,
often with detrimental effects on their career advancement.

The idea that social leverage helps parents to ‘getahead’ when returning to work
(Briggs, 1998) can also be linked to King and Waldegrave (2003) who criticize the
perception the social capital is only a public good. They highlight the way that
social capital is not evenly distributed and when people are denied access to
certain social capital networks they are at a disadvantage. This is compatible with
the vulnerability (Theme 2) identified when parents lacked social leverage, in the
form of information about the trustworthiness of childcare. This acted as a barrier
to employment for parents.

Social support and social leverage have been highlighted as influential in the
employment decisions made by parents of young children. However the themes
selected also demonstrate that other factors are also very important. For example
the social support and leverage offered to parents in the form of childcare
recommendations (Theme 2) appeared to be weighed up with the accessibility of
the childcare (Theme 3). This demonstrated that social capital

28
was only useful to a certain extent, and so it was not the only factor which
influenced the selection of childcare provision for parents returning to work.

These themes can be positioned at different levels and so a useful way of

discussing the results may be to look at them in relation to the Bronfenbrenner
(1979) framework. I will briefly explain the different levels:
>Micro levels- are made up of any context which the parent has direct experience
of on a regular basis. These can include: family, friends and partners.
>Meso levels- consist of a combination of two or more micro levels and the links
that associate them. For example friends who can recommend childcare.
>Exo levels- are the external influences which may impact on the employment
decisions, for example nursery opening hours.
>Macro levels- are much larger scale influences and they include factors such a
dominant ideology for example the social pressures which encourage mothers to
be housebound.

There levels are expressed in figure 4.

Figure 4: A diagram to show Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) nested systems.

29
 Micro-level.
Social Support.

Theme 1.
-Support from
partner, family,
Parent friends.
-Loneliness, the
need for adult
conversation.

Meso-level.
Social
Leverage.
Macro-level. Exo-level. Theme 4.
Theme 6. Theme 3. Acquaintances
Social -Nursery who can link
pressures opening parents to job
-Housebound hours. opportunities.
mothers.
Theme 5. Theme 2. People
Theme 5. -Flexible who can
-Unequal employment. recommend
distribution of childcare.
childcare.

The diagram shows the different levels at which factors can

influence parent’s employment decisions. It highlights the
importance of examining wider macro and exo level
influences which are often ignored in favour of focusing on
micro level explanations. This links back to the critical
approach of Fox and Prilleltensky (1997) who criticize
mainstream psychology for neglecting the wider social
influences.

It shows that social support and social leverage are

generally placed within the micro and meso levels, and thus
can only be very partial influences on the employment
decisions made by parents. The societal pressures (Theme
6), accessibility of the childcare (Theme 3) and the need to
fit employment around childcare (Theme 5) could be
positioned within the wider exo and macro levels. These exo
and macro level factors could be interpreted as more
influential in the sense that they can affect the meso and
micro levels. These are the factors that
30
parents have the least control over, yet ironically it could be argued that these
factors may have the biggest impact on their employment decisions.

Whilst the literature review focused on social capital, three of the themes identified
(Themes 3, 5 and 6) are not explicitly linked to social support and social leverage.
They can however be implicitly linked as I will attempt to do here.

44 Themes ‘implicitly’ linked to social capital.

45 Accessibility of childcare
The societal ideals about childcare can also be linked to the accessibility of the
childcare (Theme 3). One can question why nurseries do not provide 24hour
opening, in a society where many professions now require staff 24hours a day.
Many people now work shifts and so require more flexible nurseries, yet this does
not seem to have been accommodated for.

One explanation for this could be that society assumes that all parents have a
partner or someone who can support them with their childcare needs. The
assumption that all parents have strong social support networks that can either
provide childcare when the nurseries are closed, or help to drop off the children at
nursery, one could argue is flawed. This can be seen to reflect the way that
childcare provisions have not adapted and changed to fit with the modern
employment system. This therefore acts as a barrier to employment for parents
who do not have a strong social support network.

4.6 Social pressures

As described in the results section, social pressures (Theme 6) appeared to be
very influential on the employment decisions made by parents. These social
pressures encourage mothers not to work and portray them as bad parents for
placing their children in long term nursery care. As highlighted by Figure 3 these
pressures interact with parent’s social support and social leverage. Mothers may
feel isolated by their encouraged role within the home and contemplate
employment as a way of making new friends and increasing their social support.
However this idea may be then further discouraged by the concept that women
are bad mothers if they put their children in long term nursery care.

Duck (1999) notes how mother-child relationships (like all relationships), exist
within a social context that advocates particular ideals. For example within western
society the idea that once a child is born her mother must devote all of her time to
her upbringing, and that mothers who choose to work full time are selfish and poor
mothers. This social context appears to be influential on mother’s employment
decisions.

31
This can be further linked to social capital if one examines how these ideals are
communicated within society. Obviously the media is a huge source of
information; however information is also transported and reinforced through
conversations that take place within social capital networks. In this way social
pressures can be encouraged by social capital networks which provide a medium
for them to be transported.

4.7 Employment adapted to fit around childcare

Social pressures (Theme 6) can also be linked to Theme 5 which highlights the
way that many of the women prioritised adapting their employment to fit their
childcare, often at the expense of their career advancement. This could be linked
to the ideology that women should be the primary caregivers to their children.
Thus if they choose to work then they should be the parent who has to adapt their
plans to accommodate for childcare commitments.

Only two of the women received considerable help from their partners with their
childcare responsibilities i.e. picking up children from nursery. Amy the parent who
continued to work full time received the most help, which may have contributed to
her ability to maintain her employment hours. Di, who worked as a nurse, also
received a lot of support from her partner. This was significant because she
worked shifts that were often incompatible with nursery hours, so without the
support of her partner it was questionable whether she would have been able to
return to work.

This demonstrates that social support, in the form of support from a partner
appeared to be a useful resource for mothers returning to employment as it helps
them ‘get by’ (Briggs, 1998). This implies that mothers who do not receive
childcare support from their partners and single parents may be at a disadvantage
if they do not have someone who can support them in their childcare needs.

Highlighted here are the power inequalities which surround notions of social
support and social leverage within this society. It appears that many fathers
automatically have social support in the form of their child’s mother who has been
assigned the role of childcare provider. This means that the father’s career
advancement and employment decisions are not restricted by childcare demands.
The opposite appears to exist for the mother of their child, and this can be applied
to parents who are separated as in the majority of cases the resident parent is the
mother as she is the primary caregiver (Solicitors Family Law Association, 2004).

It appears that Bourdieu’s (1986) framing of social capital is the most useful; as it
explicitly notes how social capital can be used to maintain power positions within
the social structure (King & Waldegrave, 2003). This can be specifically applied to
gender and the different positions of mothers and fathers within the employment
hierarchy. Social support in the form of childcare responsibilities

32
carried out by mothers, appears to also act as social leverage for fathers as it
helps them to ‘stay ahead’ of mothers in the workplace. This distribution of social
capital makes it harder for mothers to advance in employment and so supports the
status quo.

4.8 Summary
To conclude when the themes are applied specifically to social support and social
leverage (Briggs, 1998) and are analysed in a critical manner, they can be traced
back to social ideology (Bourdieu, 1986). They appear to be entangled with
gendered expectations of mothers and fathers. This ideology seems to impact on
parent’s experiences of social capital and employment.

4.9 Methodological issues and recommendations for future research.

I will now attempt to evaluate this study and explore methodological issues that
arose.

An interesting issue that I feel is relevant is that all the participants claimed that
they had enough everyday support. However some then later described situations
which may lead one to question these claims. For example Lynn required
assistance from a young mothers group when she had to attend court, and Di
mentioned staying awake for several days and been permanently tired as a result
of childcare.

This highlights that perhaps my questioning was not really getting at the
information that I wanted when it came to the finding out about the support that
was available to working mothers. It also highlights possible differences in the
perceptions of what constitutes adequate support. As a young adult with relatively
few responsibilities or commitments my perceptions of how many stressors I can
deal with will probably differ from the expectations of parents with various
commitments. This may be an interesting area to develop and explore as when
examining social support it could be relevant to assess the thresholds of different
people to see when they think help or assistance should be acquired.

When I asked about public policy the women didn’t really talk about any legislation
or political parties, although they did talk about social influences. However I have
since found that this is not an unusual response and that it is often not very fruitful
to ask questions about government policy (Lewis, 2005). They implicitly talked
about issues such as flexible working but not in the way that I had anticipated. If I
was to repeat the research I would ask more questions about social pressures and
general expectations but I would avoid asking directly about public policy unless it
was introduced by the participant.

From a different angle another methodological issue that arose concerns the
language used in the interview. Although I attempted to talk to the mothers without
using psychological jargon, no doubt this will have still implicitly filtered through
and so shaped the accounts given by the parents. According to Billig (as

33
cited by Marecek et al, 2001) any verbal conversation is constrained by the
language available to describe their experiences. By using the style of the
researcher, meanings are lost as the participant’s language is changed. Whilst this
is a valid criticism I am unsure of how I could improve the research if it was to be
repeated. Even if a more conscious effort was made to change the language I
used it could still be argued that it will always implicitly seep through.

I think that the research could have been strengthened by actively involving the
parents in the analysis of the results. This is encouraged in critical research as it
empowers the participants (Prilleltensky & Nelson, 1997).

This research has highlighted that power inequalities can impact upon the social
support and social leverage that is available to parents. These inequalities also
influence the employment decisions made by parents of young children. Thus if I
was to develop the research further I would conduct a comparison across different
groups (obviously using larger sample sizes). For example I would compare the
influence of social support and leverage on the employment decisions made by
fathers and mothers to explore the gender inequality highlighted in this research. I
would also explore differences across various social class divisions in an attempt
to look at social class inequalities. I think it may be also worth stratifying parents
depending on whether they were unemployed, in part time employment or if they
were working full time to see how the number of hours worked influence the
amount of support that is required. The current qualitative approach would still be
used.

A final methodological issue that I feel is worth exploring is the debate surrounding
what constitutes an interview. Oppenheim (1992) proposes that an interview is a
one way process and that if it was to become a two way process the bias
introduced by the interviewer would lead to the value of the interview been lost.
However one may contest this and argue that the researcher is never neutral, and
they are always leading the interviewee in some way, so to try and claim that an
interview is a one way process is flawed. It is instead important to reflect on the
researchers own bias (Kidder & Fine, 1997). Banister et al (1994) encourage
interviewers to examine their own agendas, as the researchers are also
participating in the research through their interactions with the interviewee.

This leads on to the next section of the discussion which is the reflective analysis.

4.10 Reflective analysis

I will now try to reflect upon the research by examining my agenda as the
researcher and reflecting on the interview process.

4.11 My agenda

34
It is important to highlight that data does not have one meaning, it is merely the
meanings that I as the researcher have created in response to the interview
transcripts (Fish as cited by Tappan, 2001).

In line with this idea, it may be useful to explore my agenda and how it relates to
the themes that I have selected. My current interest in critical psychology I feel has
influenced the themes I have chosen. Theme 6 is a good example, as I personally
felt that the social pressures exerted upon parents are very important and thus I
chose to pursue that issue as a central theme. Another researcher with a more
micro level agenda may have focused on another area for example the coping
skills of the parents.

Clarke (as cited in Punch, 1998) claims that the topics I selected for investigation
were shaped by my personality, so I chose to explore this. While contemplating if I
had an agenda when selecting the research topic, it became apparent that the
research could be framed in a way that suggests that mothers should be
employed. At first I denied this was part of my agenda, but then after consideration
the claim seemed quite complementary to feminism. The call for women’s equality
within employment is a position that I agree with and so it could be argued that the
research topic is influenced by my agenda. However it also highlights that I may
not be aware of all of my agenda’s that could be impacting upon this research.

It is also important to note that agendas change over time and in retrospect it
would have served me better to explore my agenda at the start of the research. If I
was to repeat the research I would frame it as a feminist piece of work. It was
naive to think that I could examine a topic linked to family and employment without
heavily involving gender.

Although in the introduction I mentioned examining wider social forces and not
blaming the individual (Fox & Prilleltensky, 1997) I significantly underestimated the
impact of gender. Gerson (2004) argues that gender should not be separated from
the analysis of work-family life. She proposes that gender is an institution and that
we should move away from examining work-family dilemmas in terms of individual,
usually female, problems. This is because the traditional individualist framework
leaves women primarily responsible for ‘solving’ socially constructed problems.
This approach fits well with the examination of social pressures that impact on
parent’s employment decisions.

4.12 The interview process

Another interesting area to reflect on is the interview process and interactions that
took place.

Green and Thorogood (2004) mention the power relations within interviews and
use the term ‘elite interviewing’ to refer to the esearcher as in a position of power
and control over the interviewee. As the interviewer I did attempt to

35
reduce any power imbalance during the participant selection and interview
process. This was particularly relevant when talking with Lynn and Jen as both
these women lacked confidence and tended to underestimate their abilities. I tried
to emphasise that they were the experts in the area and that they were providing
me with a huge favour by taking part in my research. Both these claims were
obviously very true. I think that this power imbalance and my awareness of it
affected my interview technique in that I felt quite reluctant to prompt them too
much during the interviews in fear of it seeming like an interrogation.

On the other hand the power distribution I felt was reversed when interviewing
Amy and to a certain extent Di. Whilst they did not act in a way that exerted their
status, I constructed the view that they were more elite than myself due to their
academic and training status. My awareness of their qualifications and experience
made me quite nervous and under pressure during and before the interviews. My
fear of been perceived as incompetent and wasting their time probably had a
detrimental effect on my interviewing technique. I wasn’t very relaxed because I
didn’t want to make a bad impression which probably led me to make more
mistakes than usual.

When interviewing Kat there didn’t seem to be any power imbalance as she was a
university student also completing a research project so could relate to the whole
research situation.

I felt that I was able to build up a rapport with the parents; however I think that
because I am not a parent I couldn’t relate well to their situation. This I think will
have restricted the flow of the conversation and some elaborations that may have
been provided if they knew the interviewer had been in a similar situation.

The interviews with Kat and Lynn I felt were limited by the tape recorder. Lynn
particularly seemed to talk a lot less once it was present. However as a novice
interviewer I don’t think that I would have gained a lot of information if the interview
hadn’t been recorded. I was too preoccupied with trying to build up some sort of
interview technique than trying to remember what was discussed.

As a novice interviewer, I benefited from keeping a reflective diary of the

interviews. This proved very useful in helping to improve my interview technique
(see appendix 5 for the reflective diary). This is advocated by Ballinger (2003) who
claims that keeping a research diary is an important form of reflexivity.

As this paper begins to conclude I will now briefly discuss the implications of the
research.

4.13 Implications of the research.

The research has suggested that employment may serve as a source of social
support for parents of young children (Theme 1). However it has also highlighted

36
that social pressure’s can encourage mothers to be housebound leading them to
require social support in the first place (Theme 6). Thus these pressures should be
challenged and ‘blamed’ not the mothers.

It has been found that social support and social leverage networks are a useful
resource for parents who are seeking to find trustworthy childcare (Theme 2).
However the advice gained from these networks is only useful to a certain extent
as flexible nurseries are not as widely available as mothers would like (Theme3). It
is also important to note that mothers who lack access to networks that can
provide information on trustworthy childcare, appear to be vulnerable and at a
disadvantage (Theme 2).

I feel that the most important conclusion drawn from the research is that it is
necessary for fathers to take an even distribution of their childcare responsibilities.
Without this mothers are faced with an additional barrier to employment that
fathers are exempt from. Through continuing to accept the bulk of the childcare
responsibilities, mothers are providing fathers with the social leverage to continue
succeeding in the work place at the expense of the mother. Whether fathers are
prepared to comply with this recommendation is a different issue, educating
parents and children on the need for equality one could argue is a step in the right
direction.

When questioning who will benefit from this research? The short answer is only
me the researcher because this is part of the requirements for my undergraduate
assessment. This paper is written in an academic style and is not available to
anyone outside the discipline.

Marks and Sykes (2004) criticise academic work for rarely exploring the research
with the participants as they are the people who in theory should benefit most from
the research. In accordance with this if any of the parents request a copy of the
report, which I have informed them they are entitled to I will be happy to provide
them with a copy or a summary. However to date one has not been requested.

Conclusion
To conclude this research offers a somewhat pessimistic outlook on the
relationship between social support and social leverage networks and the
employment decisions made by parents of young children. It suggests that social
support and social leverage are entangled with patriarchal societal pressures,
which act as barriers to employment for mothers of young children. This research
suggests that a further analysis of the power inequalities in social capital
distribution is necessary to gain a better understanding of this problem.

It advocates that fathers should take an even distribution of the childcare

responsibilities to help combat the barriers faced by mothers. Although how this
should be enforced is another perhaps more complex issue.

37
Is seems that Bourdieu’s (1986) framing of social capital is a useful way of
examining the employment decisions made by parents of young children, as it
highlights issues and conflicts that may ignored by Putnam (2000) and Coleman
(1988).

38
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