Drawing on her expertise as an academic researcher and as a writer of both non-fiction and fiction, Ann Oakley here tells the story of a research project. Moving far beyond the conventional format of the research report, this book develops a sociology of the research process itself, centering on the telling of a story about how and why the research came into being, and what happened when it did. It demonstrates, furthermore, that the research process must be seen within the wider context of a crisis in contemporary culture concerning the status and gendering of knowledge. Distinctively linking private troubles to public issues, Social Support and Motherhood investigates the connection between social relations and the health and well-being of women and their babies. At the same time, it calls into question the very definition of health and probes the complex relations between social science research, academic knowledge and public policy. It is aimed at undergraduates, researchers and teachers in sociology, social research methods, social policy and women's studies.