Doing it ‘right’: Motherhood as moral business
We now turn to consider the interactional work of motherhood. Building on prior research which emphasises the fundamentally moral nature of motherhood, we place our focus on moments of disagreement between speakers as particularly fertile ground for members’ moral work.
Extract 5 involves mothers, Lizzie and Anna, debating whether teenagers’ partners should be allowed to stay over in the family home. Lizzie is supportive, whilst Anna is not.