Glenda Wall

I received my PhD in Sociology from the University of Calgary in 1998.

I joined the department of Sociology as an assistant professor at Laurier in 2000.

My research focuses on cultural representations and experiences of motherhood, fatherhood, childhood and youth with a particular focus on media representations and expert advice. Much of my recent work has involved examining the ways in which early years brain development advice has changed the culture and experience of motherhood and contributed to policies and programs that have increased the scrutiny and regulation of mothers. Other recent studies include an examination of media representations of fatherhood, a historical examination of changing understandings of women’s paid work and childcare, and an analysis of the resurgence of 'attatchment' in child rearing advice and education.

Current research projects include an exploration of the social expectations facing parents with respect to managing and regulating their adolescent children's online lives and a book-length overview of mothering in a neo-liberal world of responsibility, achievement and risk.

I am willing to supervise graduate students interested in critical analyses of parenting or childhood culture and/or parenting experience.

• Wall, Glenda. 2018. "'Love builds brains': Representations of attachment and children's brain development in parenting education material. Sociology of Health and Illness 40(3): 395-409.
• Jezierski, Syliva and Glenda Wall. 2017. "Changing understandings and expectations of parental involvement in education." Gender and Education, DOI: 10.1080/09540253.2017.1332340.
• Wall, Glenda. 2013. “'Putting family first': Shifting discourses of motherhood and childhood in representations of mothers' employment and child care.” Women's Studies International Forum. 40: 162-71.
• Romagnoli, Amy and Glenda Wall. 2012. “'I know I'm a good mom': Young, low-income mothers' experiences with risk perception, intensive parenting ideology and parenting education programs.” Health, Risk & Society 14(3): 273 - 289.
• Wall, Glenda. 2010. "Mothers’ experiences with intensive parenting and brain development discourse." Women’s Studies International Forum 33(3): 253 - 263.
• Luccisano, Lucy and Glenda Wall. 2009. "The Shaping of Motherhood through Social Investment in Children: Examples from Canada and Mexico." In Post-Neoliberalism in the Americas. Laura McDonald and Arne Ruckert (Eds.). Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Wall, Glenda 2009. "Childhood and Child Rearing." In Families: Changing Trends in Canada, sixth edition. Maureen Baker (Ed.) Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
• Wall, Glenda and Stephanie Arnold. 2007. "How involved is involved fathering? An exploration of the contemporary culture of fatherhood." Gender & Society 21(4): 508-527.
• Wall, Glenda. 2004 "Is your child's brain potential maximized?: Mothering in an age of new brain research." Atlantis 28(2): 41 - 50.
• Wall, Glenda. 2001. "Moral constructions of motherhood in breastfeeding discourse." Gender & Society 15(4): 590-608.