Kulturen/Cultures: Parenting - Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Learning objectives

Upon successful completion of the course, students will have learned to

describe cultural differences as well as similarities in parenting without falling into cultural stereotypes.
reflect on the influence of scientific knowledge on parental beliefs and practices.
interpret parental experiences using interview material and to frame these interpretations in terms of cultural psychology.

Course content

Parenthood is a universal phenomenon, but it is lived very differently depending on the cultural context. This makes it an exciting field for cultural psychological research and debate. In this seminar we will learn about different forms of parenthood based on empirical studies and discuss what this diversity actually means for society.

Special attention is given to the phenomenon of ʺintensive parentingʺ, which has been described as the dominant cultural framework for parenting in the last 20 years. Intensive parenting is defined as a mindset that makes parents, especially mothers, feel particularly responsible for the cognitive, social and emotional development of their children. What this means for parents, but also for children, is first traced in empirical studies and then critically discussed. The phenomenon of intensive parenting is a particularly good example of how ideas of good or bad parenting change over time and what influence scientific knowledge has on these ideas. Using research papers, we then look at whether intensive parenting is actually a cross‐cultural phenomenon. In this seminar, we will explore literature on parenting but also approach the topic by reading excerpts from interviews with parents, diary entries or contributions in online forums together.

Course structure and indications of the learning and teaching design

The course is taught as a weekly seminar with 12 sessions. In the first half of each session there will be a theoretical input in the form of a short lecture and students will present a research paper. In the second part we will look at empirical material in group work. This includes in particular interview excerpts with parents from Germany and Turkey (translated into English), but also online available information materials for parents or in some cases diary entries of parents. Students will produce their own interpretation of an interview excerpt following these interpretive exercises in the seminar.

Contextual Studies are considered part of Contact Learning; thus, taking part properly implies regular attendance. It is the studentsʹ own responsibility to ensure that there is no timetable clash between the courses they have chosen. A detailed course outline and all relevant documents will be made available onStudynet. ‐