Michelle A Brady
I work in the area of interpretive policy studies with a particular interest in governmentality, critical ethnography, and social policies that shape the gendered division of labour in liberal welfare states (particularly Canada and Australia). My substantive areas of focus include welfare to work, childcare and paternity leave.
Publications Include
Ethnographies of Neoliberal Governmentalities: from the neoliberal apparatus to neoliberalism and governmental assembledges, Foucault Studies (2014)
What ethnography contributes to studies of governmentality, Critical Policy Studies (2011)
Understanding single mothers’ choices around paid work and education: preference theory versus a practices of mothering framework, Public Policy, Vol. 5. No. 1 (2010)
Hours of Paid Work among Single and Partnered Mothers in Australia: How Childcare Package Matters (2014)
Brady, M. ‘Absences and Silences in the Production of Work Life Balance Policies in Canada’, Studies in Political Economy, No. 81, Spring 2008
‘Institutionalized individualism and the care of the self: single mothers and the state', in Howard, C. (ed.) Contested Individualization: Debates about Contemporary Personhood, New York: Palgrave Macmillan (2007)
Address: m.brady2@uq.edu.au
Publications Include
Ethnographies of Neoliberal Governmentalities: from the neoliberal apparatus to neoliberalism and governmental assembledges, Foucault Studies (2014)
What ethnography contributes to studies of governmentality, Critical Policy Studies (2011)
Understanding single mothers’ choices around paid work and education: preference theory versus a practices of mothering framework, Public Policy, Vol. 5. No. 1 (2010)
Hours of Paid Work among Single and Partnered Mothers in Australia: How Childcare Package Matters (2014)
Brady, M. ‘Absences and Silences in the Production of Work Life Balance Policies in Canada’, Studies in Political Economy, No. 81, Spring 2008
‘Institutionalized individualism and the care of the self: single mothers and the state', in Howard, C. (ed.) Contested Individualization: Debates about Contemporary Personhood, New York: Palgrave Macmillan (2007)
Address: m.brady2@uq.edu.au
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The aim of this special issue is to provide an opportunity to think again about the kinds of contributions that contemporary qualitative research can make to social policy. A number of these articles were first presented at a workshop entitled ‘Qualitative Research on Work, Family & Policy: Current Issues & Future Directions’ held at the School of Social Science, University of Queensland in November 2013. That workshop sought to foster debate and dialogue about the kinds of contributions qualitative scholars should be seeking to make to work and family policy, and the kinds of methods that we should use in a context where qualitative research seems to be viewed as less persuasive than quantitative studies. The aim of this special issue is to address the following questions:
What specific contributions can qualitative studies make to work and family policy?
Is there a place for increased comparative research, and if so what are some innovative examples of comparative qualitative studies?
What specific kinds of methodologies can make a contribution to work and family policy? What are the details of these methodologies and why are they particularly powerful?
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for understanding mothers’ decisions around paid work. These theories suggest that women have relatively static preferences regarding their labour force participation that
are manifestations of their pre-existing identities as ‘mothers’ or ‘workers’ and that these will affect their labour force decisions much more profoundly than cultural, social
or economic conditions. Drawing on ethnographic research with single mothers, this article argues that preference theory is an inadequate framework for understanding how they make choices around paid work. It suggests that a mothering practices
framework has much more explanatory power. The mothering practices framework, which emphasizes that mothering is something that is practiced rather than something that one is, fits closely with single mothers’ narratives about their labour force decisions and plans. In contrast to identity theories, it illuminates the day to day material tradeoffs involved in participation in education and paid work, as well as the reality that single mothers have differential access to family support and quality childcare.
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The aim of this special issue is to provide an opportunity to think again about the kinds of contributions that contemporary qualitative research can make to social policy. A number of these articles were first presented at a workshop entitled ‘Qualitative Research on Work, Family & Policy: Current Issues & Future Directions’ held at the School of Social Science, University of Queensland in November 2013. That workshop sought to foster debate and dialogue about the kinds of contributions qualitative scholars should be seeking to make to work and family policy, and the kinds of methods that we should use in a context where qualitative research seems to be viewed as less persuasive than quantitative studies. The aim of this special issue is to address the following questions:
What specific contributions can qualitative studies make to work and family policy?
Is there a place for increased comparative research, and if so what are some innovative examples of comparative qualitative studies?
What specific kinds of methodologies can make a contribution to work and family policy? What are the details of these methodologies and why are they particularly powerful?
You can assess for free: http://tandf.msgfocus.com/c/15iVG5oiRnS57R9hCaf1ex1Y2k
You can download free prints here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ff4fqgdWvHVXk8tctKQA/full "
for understanding mothers’ decisions around paid work. These theories suggest that women have relatively static preferences regarding their labour force participation that
are manifestations of their pre-existing identities as ‘mothers’ or ‘workers’ and that these will affect their labour force decisions much more profoundly than cultural, social
or economic conditions. Drawing on ethnographic research with single mothers, this article argues that preference theory is an inadequate framework for understanding how they make choices around paid work. It suggests that a mothering practices
framework has much more explanatory power. The mothering practices framework, which emphasizes that mothering is something that is practiced rather than something that one is, fits closely with single mothers’ narratives about their labour force decisions and plans. In contrast to identity theories, it illuminates the day to day material tradeoffs involved in participation in education and paid work, as well as the reality that single mothers have differential access to family support and quality childcare.
"
In the period since the 2005 Welfare to Work reforms, some single parents have been required to take part in intensive employment programs through the Job Network (now Job Services Australia). This paper presents findings from a two-phase interview study with providers of employment services, exploring their experiences serving single mothers. We conducted the research in Perth because its economy creates special challenges for finding flexible employment for women. Our first interviews took place in 2007 when single parents were just starting to interact with the Job Network in small numbers. We found most employment services had not developed specific approaches to serving mothers, but suggested parents would benefit from the same services as mainstream unemployed, and that “individualized service” would effectively address the systematically different needs of mothers. In the second stage of our study in 2013, the number of parents using employment services has grown significantly, and we outline how the de-gendered and individualized model has had to confront issues of caring and gendered responsibilities in this larger cohort. We suggest that individualized service needs to be systematically informed by the structural needs of single parents to reconcile tensions between work and caring obligations.
1 January 2013. Eligible fathers and partners can receive two weeks’ pay at the rate of the National Minimum Wage, when they take unpaid leave or are not working for pay, to spend time with their newborn or recently adopted child.
The objective of DAPP is to provide financial support to fathers and partners caring for newborn or
newly adopted child ren, in order to:
1. Increase the time that fathers and partners take off work around the time of birth or adoption;
2. Create further opportunities for fathers and partners to bond with the child; and
3.Allow fathers and partners to take a greater share of caring responsibilities and to support mothers and partners from the beginning
Bill Martin, Marian Baird, Michelle Brady,
Barbara Broadway, Belinda Hewitt, Guyonne Kalb,
Lyndall Strazdins, Wojtek Tomaszewski, Maria Zadoroznyj, Janeen Baxter, Rachael Chen, Meraiah Foley, Duncan McVicar, Gillian Whitehouse, Ning Xiang
In Governing Practices, Michelle Brady and Randy Lippert bring together prominent scholars in sociology, criminology, anthropology, geography, and policy studies to extend and refine the current conversation about neoliberalism. The collection argues that a new methodological approach to analyzing contemporary policy and political change is needed. United by the common influence of Foucault’s governmentality approach and an ethnographic imaginary, the collection presents original research on a diverse range of case studies including public-private partnerships, the governance of condos, community and state statistics, nanopolitics, philanthropy, education reform, and pay-day lending. These diverse studies add considerable depth to studies on governmentality and neoliberalism through a focus on governmental practices that have not previously been the focus of sustained analysis.