Motherhood, as a social institution, extends beyond biological determinism and is shaped by cultural and historical contexts. Social norms and expectations strongly influence how mothers express emotions, perform caregiving roles, and integrate their maternal identity with other life domains. The socially constructed ideal of the »good mother« emphasizes total devotion, continuous presence, and high emotional and cognitive engagement, often placing mothers under significant psychological pressure and self-scrutiny. This paper explores emotional work in early motherhood through the lens of Hochschild’s concept (1979) of emotion management. Emotional work involves aligning personal feelings with socially accepted emotional expressions, which frequently results in tension between internal experiences and external expectations. Such dissonance may give rise to ambivalence and feelings of inadequacy. The study is based on qualitative research, including thirteen semi-structured interviews with women in the early stages of motherhood. The findings reveal that women perform emotional work in early motherhood.
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