Iranian motherhood: a cognitive approach

This schema is reflected in three metaphors of strategy, trade-off and conditional. Moreover, I argue that this conceptualisation is connected to how middle-class women perceive children, father(hood), and parenthood. <br><br>Furthermore, I contend that three general-purpose schemas influence the cultural model of motherhood and its three complementing domains. The coexistence of the three schemas of familism, sociality, and individualism, as well as the conceptualisation of motherhood as a project, makes motherhood problematic<br>I also propose a causal explanation for the motherhood problematisation and the emergence and distribution of the aforementioned cultural schemas.

Applying the epidemiology of representations approach, I assert that the current cultural model of motherhood is the product of ecological and psychological factors throughout Iran's history. <br><br>Finally, I argue that, while middle-class women and many lower-class individuals tend to accept the described cultural schemas, there are individual variations in how meanings are made of shared conceptions. Moreover, these expectations are not always fulfilled in reality.<br>