Single mothers and their daughters: Discourses about education

This qualitative research is focused on analyzing the discourses of five single mothers and their daughters about formal education. The researcher starts by reviewing existing literature about the mother-daughter relationship, and also about the social, cultural and religious stereotypes that "construct" single motherhood. To place the study within a theoretical framework, the researcher includes an explanation of how the texts derived from the in-depth interviews to the five single mothers and daughters participating in the study can be analyzed through discourse analysis.; In the process of selecting the single mothers and daughters that participated in the study, the researcher tried to include mothers that represent different socio economical backgrounds and who hold different professions. This provides the study with a varied representation, thus enriching it through the plurality of their voices.; The research questions that guide the study are categorized between those that relate to the mother-daughter communication and subjectivity formation and those that relate to the formal education process. For the purpose of the study they were categorized as follows: Mother-daughter communication and subjectivity formation. (1) How does the single mother's discourse resound in the daughter's subjectivity? (2) How do these daughters negotiate their mothers' discourses to make their own meanings?; Formal Education. (1) How does the single mother's discourse direct the daughters decisions about formal education? (2) How is the single mothers' discourse about formal education intertwined with their daughters' own discourse? (3) How do daughters of single mothers envision their future lives and the demands that society places on women in terms of career, work and family?; Through the analysis of the information obtained in this study, the researcher has the expectation to benefit not only the education and curriculum design academic fields but also others like Parent and Student counseling, Psychology and Feminist Studies.