Citation

Lapinske L. Sociologija 2018; 60(1): 64-83.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Sociological Association of Serbia and Montenegro)

DOI

10.2298/SOC1801064L

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper presents challenges and life strategies of highly educated single mothers in Lithuania. My ethnography traces the impact on strategies of remaining in a country where exit strategies - alcoholism, suicide, emigration - prevail and seem as an "easier" option. It is a study concerned with the relationship between precarity, single motherhood, social reproduction and everyday living. I focus on precarious living conditions, social isolation and stigmatization, unappreciated and highly gendered care-work. Based on collaborative ethnographic fieldwork material, the paper presents the micro-level attempts to negotiate what it means to be a lone care-taker, to revalorize and challenge the hegemonic narratives of individual strength and success.

Language: en