ABSTRACT
In 1984 Sandra Scarr published a book concerned with the lives of women and children in the United States, which centered on the issue of how beliefs about the development of children affect those lives. In the prize-winning Mother Care/Other Care, she questioned the evidence that exclusive mothering (as opposed to fathering and care by others) was crucial for the well-being of children. She asked what kinds of care babies really need in order to thrive, and why there is an emphasis on exclusive mothering; in a very accessible way she explored the development of ideas about mothers’ roles and children’s needs. Mother Care/Other Care was a great success, and I was delighted and honored when she asked if I would collaborate with her in producing a British version of the book. The history of attitudes toward working mothers and of social policies toward mothers and children differs between the United States and Britain, as do the choices about provision that mothers face. We traced the development of ideas about mothers’ roles and children’s needs in Britain, to give us a glimpse of the changing image of motherhood in Britain, and of how that image has altered with social, economic, and political changes (Scarr & Dunn, 1987).
