The family concept of single mothers by choice (SMBC) in Hungary

Abstract

This study explores the family concepts of Single Mothers by Choice (SMBCs) in Hungary. It is situated within a social context in which Hungarian family policy strongly encourages childbearing while primarily defining family through a heteronormative, two-parent model. The analysis is based on semi-structured interviews with 30 women who became mothers without a partner through assisted reproduction or adoption. The study draws on the theoretical perspectives of “doing family”, which emphasises everyday family practices, “displaying family”, which focuses on the social recognition and public presentation of family, and the concept of symbolic family. The findings show that most participants had originally envisioned becoming mothers within a relationship and chose solo motherhood only after a prolonged process of reflection. They primarily define family through care, emotional commitment, and everyday family practices, although genetic relatedness remains an important point of reference. Participants frequently expand their family networks by incorporating extended kin, friends, and chosen family members, while also constructing symbolic family narratives involving donors, donor siblings, or biological relatives. The interviews further demonstrate that SMBCs engage in continuous work to legitimise their family form and gain social recognition, as institutional practices and family policy discourses continue to privilege the two-parent family as the normative model. The study contributes to contemporary understandings of family by showing that the experiences of SMBC families should not be understood as reflecting a sharp divide between a structural understanding of family – which centres on features such as the presence of a couple or blood relationship – and an understanding of family based on family practices. Rather, they can be understood as illustrating an ongoing renegotiation of these two perspectives.