A discourse-analytical perspective on representations of fatherhood and motherhood in French, German and American parental guide books

One of the most interesting subjects to reflect on as far as child rearing is concerned pertains to the respective roles fathers and mothers are expected to play. This paper deals with the representations of fatherhood and motherhood in French, German and American parental guide books. The aim is to show a series of discursive procedures through which these representations are constructed and to come to an understanding of what makes guide books from France, Germany and the USA different from each other in that regard. After presenting the theoretical and methodological framework of this research as well as the data on which it focuses I show, by means of discursive analysis, who exactly is the addressee of parental guide books, which are the respective responsibilities mothers and fathers should take on according to the authors and what kind of maternal role investment is constructed discursively in these books. I also present hypotheses on a relationship between the findings of the discursive analysis and cultural and institutional facts