Constrained Articulation: A Grounded Theory of Identity Recomposition at Return to Work After Maternity Leave

This seminar, coordinated by Laudine Carbuccia (CRIS / LIEPP) and Montserrat Botey (OFCE : Gender Studies Programme / LIEPP) as  part of the Family Policies working group, is co-organised by the LIEPP socio-fiscal policies research group and the educational policies research group.

Abstract

"I'm no longer the same machine - but everyone expected me to be." This is how one of the 15 working mothers in this study described her first day back at work after maternity leave. What happens, psychologically, when you return to a workplace that hasn't changed - but you have? Drawing on constructivist grounded theory, this presentation introduces an original process model of identity navigation at postpartum return to work: constrained articulation. Four articulation modes are identified, mapping trajectories from identity rupture to integration — with direct implications for policy, workplace practice, and perinatal support.

Speaker

Charline Darmaillacq, PhD student at the Laboratory of Psychopathology and Health Processes (Paris Cité University).