Environments and Mothering

Sociocultural Environments and History

One of the major debates surrounding the relationship between mothering and sociocultural environments has centered upon how much of mothering behaviors (or lack thereof) can be attributed to biological as opposed to social influences (the so-called “maternal instinct”). The scholarship and research on the subject tend to center upon three focal questions: Are women naturally and biologically endowed with a “maternal instinct,” or are mothering behaviors simply learned through socialization—mothers are not born, but are made? Why do women appear routinely as the primary caregivers in societies worldwide (or, alternatively, why do men as a group not usually engage in such behaviors) and how does this social arrangement contribute to women's oppression? Should mothering/caregiving be taken out of the private realm and placed in the public one?

Biological versus Social Motherhood

Although the word mother is one of the oldest found in languages around the world, the term motherhood is of comparatively recent creation (the earliest reference is found in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1597), with many authors such as Ann Dally arguing that the institution of motherhood is a fairly new invention. Even so, there is general agreement that caregiving is a universal institution established in all societies as a mechanism for ensuring the survival of humanity.

The basic goals of caregiving in societies are to make sure that the young are protected, their growth is fostered, and they adhere to social norms even as they are taught to listen to their own consciences. There is disagreement, however, in the distinction between the practice of mothering as a “natural” and biological imperative, as opposed to the varying social construction(s) of the institution of mothering as found in different cultures and historical periods.

Arguments have gone as far to assert that biological motherhood is simply a myth constructed to assure the continuity of patriarchy, evidenced by systematic subordination of women in societies or institutions where the rule of the father is supreme in families and clans, mothers and children are legal dependents of males, and lines of descent and inheritance pass solely through males. Under such a system, all women are expected to have a natural desire to become mothers, mothers need their children, and children need their mothers.

In their deconstruction of this line of thinking, some researchers and scholars have made three counterarguments. First, they argue that the so-called “maternal instinct” is not a biological one, but a state that arises from the way that girls are socially and culturally conditioned to be mothers.

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