Item Detail
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13431
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0
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0
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English
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'The Lines That Join Them are Variable' : Five Working Mormon Mothers
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Logan, UT
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Utah State University
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307
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Masters thesis
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Author's abstract: 'Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints emphasize the importance of families and encourage mothers to prioritize their role as nurturers. Though official statements like;The Family: A Proclamation to the World; establish the LDS Church's official policy and institutional ideals regarding families, they do not pin down the actual folk practice of believing Mormons, who live in a matrix of social, familial, and economic forces. Mormon mothers' rates of work-force participation equal those of their national counterparts. This thesis describes and analyzes interviews conducted by the author with five working Mormon mothers. The interviewees all express belief in and intent to comply with official statements from leaders of LDS church, but they all also express belief that their choice to work for wages is valid. They see themselves as conforming with Church policy even while they forge their own work and family structures. The thesis analyzes the ways these women combine official Church policies with a variety of cultural and experience-based beliefs. It concludes that these women demonstrate a diversity of ways of conforming with Church mandates.'