Neighborhood activities and motherhood: Gendering the systemic model of community

Publication date: Available online 25 August 2018Source: The Social Science JournalAuthor(s): Elena Ariel WindsongAbstractKasarda and Janowitz’s (1974) systemic model emphasizes community as a system of kinship and friendship ties driven by on-going processes of socialization. The emphasis on socialization is particularly germane to gender, specifically parenting and motherhood, but little research has unpacked neighborhood activities and gender. Drawing on qualitative data from a neighborhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I demonstrate that motherhood was central to women’s participation in neighborhood activities, use of neighborhood space, and neighborhood expectations. This paper adds to understandings of community by incorporating gender as relevant for examining neighborhood dynamics and highlighting how women experience their neighborhood as mothers.
Source: The Social Science Journal - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research