Independent motherhood: The life experiences of never married working-class single mothers in New York City

This study examines the lives of never married working-class single mothers, a population that has not been systematically or adequately studied. The main focus of the dissertation is to explore the decision-making processes of single mothers, how they came to be, how they think and feel about their current unpartnered marital status, how they manage and cope, and what social work practices and social welfare policies might aid them in their lives. This dissertation approaches single motherhood as a social construction, meaning, it is produced and constructed through a dynamic set of historical and interactive forces and processes. The aim of this research project is to explore territory beyond previously held conceptions and misperceptions of single mothers. Single mothers have been placed in what Polakow (1993) refers to as the "zone of suspicion, the horizon of potential depravity." This research examines the intersections of their "singleness" and their "motherness" while paying equally close attention to race and class and how these particular identities help to shape their lives, circumstances, and responses to single motherhood. Single mothers parallel what Mintz & Kellogg (1988) said about families traveling west, "[t]he story of pioneer families on the Great Plains is a tale of poverty, unremitting toil, and ceaseless effort, but a story too of successful innovation and adaptation to new and challenging circumstances" (p. 98).