The discourse of benevolent paternalism in the introduction to The Baby Book

Abstract

This study utilized the perspective of critical discourse analysis to examine the introductory chapter of the third edition of the Searses' seminal book on attachment parenting, The Baby Book. Focused mainly on the use of language within the text by parenting "experts," a qualitative approach was taken to elucidate the text within its historical and cultural context. Throughout the analysis, we found that despite endorsing practices that counter the standard parenting advice, The Baby Book discourse remains firmly placed in the tradition of benevolent paternalism. Our analysis revealed how values surrounding parenting are constructed and reconstructed within a parenting manual by enforcing traditional gender roles. This text continues in the historical tradition of parenting "experts" using language to reinforce the dominant discourse around parenting practices, including gender role reinforcement.A confluence of social and political developments leading up to the turn of the 20th century sparked a new attention to parenting practices in America and, subsequently, the advent of parenting advice manuals. The women's rights movement, a strengthening medical establishment, the growing field of psychology, and an increased attention to scientific research prompted this new awareness of child welfare (Apple, 2006). Subsequently, the child study movement was established

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“…Over-privileging resistances can leave the underlying norm understudied and hence also more intact” (p. 9). Similarly, Ermann, Ponsford, Spence, and Wright (2014) demonstrated multiple perspectives in their analysis: “The major themes identified emerged through an equitable consensus process, with our diverse perspectives reflected in the discussion of those themes” (p. 544).…”

“…Subthemes of general qualitative rigor found in the reviewed articles included authenticity, subjectivity, reflexivity, adequacy , and articulation of a clear analytical framework . For instance, Ermann et al (2014) expressed subjectivity: “Two of us are parents with experience in using attachment parenting practices and two are not parents and had little previous exposure to parenting literature” (p. 544). Dworin and Bomer (2008) communicated the adequacy of data (immersion in the data) criterion when they wrote, “Our selections of passages are grounded in a sentence-by-sentence reading of the text” (p. 106).…”

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