ABSTRACT
This chapter presents what appear to be the principal characteristics of the theories that constitute the grounds of legitimations of parents' suffering. It examines four theoretical sources of legitimations: religion and its apparent commonsense equivalents, medical science, psychiatry and sociology. The chapter explores religion or its commonsense equivalents, medical science, psychiatry and sociology, as they are commonly related to the parents' situation, and in terms of these theories discuss some of the activities of doctors, social workers, voluntary associations, women's magazines and newspapers. Religious and other theories in a society commonly influence each other – commonsense maxims may derive from religious traditions, whilst religious theodicies must 'make sense' or be compatible with current conceptualizations. The chapter explains the bases of parents' suffering, the discrepancies between their situation and that of normal parents and presents some discussion of the general forms and processes of legitimation.
