A Market in Love? Choosing Pre‐school Childcare

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Abstract
The article is an initial consideration of data collected for a project exploring working parents' choices of care for their pre‐school children. First, the policy developments in this area are reviewed. However, the heart of the article is an analysis of the ways in which the sample of mainly white middle‐class mothers operates within the childcare market. The impact of class and gender upon their choices is considered, and the strategies the women use to personalise the market are mapped. The authors conclude that despite their relatively advantaged position as consumers, the women's control of the market‐based relations that develop remains imperfect and incomplete as they negotiate the tensions between work and domestic responsibilities.

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