Book by Professor Michelle Napierski-Prancl Mediates the ‘Mommy Wars’

Mothers Work: Confronting the Mommy Wars, Raising Children, and Working for Social Change by Sociology Professor Michelle Napierski-Prancl, Ph.D., was published in 2019 by Lexington Books, and will be available in paperback on June 15, 2021.

The ‘Mommy Wars’ refers to the socially-contrived division that pits mothers against each other over choices related to raising children, Napierski-Prancl said. “The Mommy Wars are a constant source of conversation, from whether you work in the paid labor force, to if you breastfeed, to diaper choices,” she continued. “All of these are conversations that the public has about moms. I wanted to talk to the moms, and get their side of the story.”

Mothers Work emerged from 17 years of research, and includes excerpts from focus groups Napierski-Prancl conducted, her analysis of how mothers are portrayed in media and popular culture and reflections on her own experiences. 

“The Mommy Wars distract us and shift our attention toward the differences between mothers instead of the shared experiences that exist among mothers,” Napierski-Prancl said. “The objective of this book is to explore the lives of women living under the aura of the Mommy Wars and in the end, I hope it provides suggestions and pathways to create what the formula company Similac fittingly markets as the sisterhood of motherhood.”

Napierski-Prancl is the faculty director of the Women’s Institute at Russell Sage College and director of Sage’s Sociology program. 

Find out more about Mothers Work: Confronting the Mommy Wars, Raising Children, and Working for Social Change at the publisher’s website.  

Find out more about Mothers Work: Confronting the Mommy Wars, Raising Children, and Working for Social Change at Amazon.