Consuming to Be Good: Therapeutic Ideology and Transracial Adoptive Mothers

Abstract

This study reveals the therapeutic origins of the “good mother” ideal in a rarely studied context, that of transracial adoptive mothering. Using a comparative discursive analysis supplemented by illustrative case analysis, we show that what it means to be a “good mother” in transracial adoptive mothering discourse differs significantly from the ideal established in mainstream mothering discourse. The key differences uncovered relate to publicly contested challenges to legitimacy, the experience of stigma for families adopting children of difference races, and a relative dearth of market-based solutions to these challenges. We propose therapeutic ideology as a powerful macro-level theoretical construct capable of explaining the self-reinforcing cycle of mothers' anxiety, expert advice, and market-mediated solutions.