Adult Mother-Daughter Relationships: Subjectivity, Power and Critical Psychology

Abstract

Theoretical developments are considered in two waves of research which inform our understanding of adult mother-daughter relationships. The first wave introduces the perspective of feminist object relations theory. The second addresses the issue of re-visioning sister-hood. Both combine a concern for feminist issues and psychoanalytic theory, exploring the unconscious relational dynamics of mothering and daughtering as they are implicated in the reproduction of, and resistance to, socially stratified power/gender relations. Three main issues are addressed: (i) the critique of object relations theory on grounds of essentialism; (ii) reasons for viewing individuation-separation theory as a patriarchal myth; and (iii) the argument that the standing of adult mother-daughter relationships can be enhanced, as a metaphor for understanding women's relationships more widely, by invoking the concept of female desire. The implications of the various controversies and debates for critical psychology are considered. I propose that the emotional significations or meanings of adult mother-daughter relationships are constituted within webs of discourse and relations of power across the lifespan. © 1995, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.