Mothers and Martyrs

Abstract

Power relationships, the relation of the strong to the weak or of authority figures to their subordinates, have their root in the original power relationship, that of parent to child. According to the Swiss psychoanalyst Alice Miller, oppression, tyranny and fascism stem from fears, hatreds and resentments bred in the hierarchical family where parents are granted absolute power over children.¹ The parent relates to the child not only as provider, protector and nurturer, but also as legislator, judge and enforcer. In most people’s lives mothers are the first persons to exercise power over them. By examining case histories and the literature of child-rearing, Miller draws what would seem to be the obvious conclusion that a mother’s treatment of her children is conditioned by the way her parents treated her as a child.