Can Risk Society and the Ideology of Motherhood Explain the Continued Hostility Towards the McCanns on Social Media?

Abstract

This chapter does not speculate on or make any judgements with regard to what has happened to Madeleine McCann or who is responsible for her disappearance. The focus rather is on elucidating the rationale for the continued hostility towards the McCann’s on social media, over a decade after Madeleine’s disappearance. Whilst there have been several theories presented regarding the reasons for this hostility, this chapter focuses exclusively on explanations relating to the management of risk and the ideology of motherhood. This encompasses an analysis of risk society, whereby individuals are judged as the executers of their own suffering when they make a ‘wrong’ choice; particularly in situations where they are considered to have the benefit of appropriate knowledge to avoid potential dangers. It is argued that an ideology of motherhood not only persists in society but it thrives as motherhood continues to be an ‘institutionalised’ role (Gatrell 2004) and ‘intensive mothering’ (Hays 1996) reigns supreme.