Work, Family and Childcare studies the joint decisions made by parents regarding the time they allocate to paid employment and childcare. Extensive cross-national data is analysed from three countries that represent the diversity of European households: Belgium, Denmark and Spain. The book compares and contrasts the results and draws out important implications for European social policy. Among Belgian and Danish couples, the author identifies a variety of ways in which the responsibility of childcare is handled. In certain cases both partners will invest considerable time and effort in looking after the child, whereas in other couples one parent will compensate for their partner's lack of time. He also demonstrates that childcare considerations dominate parental decision-making. This is evident not only in a country such as Spain which lacks childcare facilities, but also in Denmark which, relatively speaking, provides an abundance of childcare services. Importantly, the author finds that joint preferences tend to result in either work-centred or care-centred couples, which poses new challenges for policymakers. He argues that future policy initiatives regarding the relationship between 'work and care' should focus on parental diversity and help parents to balance care responsibilities and employment according to their preferences This superb new book combines econometric analysis and social policy insights to address an issue of increasing importance to a growing number of people. It will appeal to a broad international audience including economists, sociologists and social policy researchers. It will also be of value to students on a range of courses concerned with family or household economics.

Bonding Eros with virtue is neither unrealistic nor naive, contends Mike Martin. On the contrary, it's practical, even pragmatic. Virtues serve to focus, structure, and even define erotic love. In particular, caring, respect, faithfulness, honesty, fairness, wisdom, and gratitude are central to successful, long-term relationships.

"In Love's Virtues," Martin takes a look at why moral values enhance and solidify erotic and marital relationships. In the process, he challenges the widespread cynicism about marriage while remaining sensitive to the innumerable problems confronting couples. His approach to marital love is both traditional and modern. Traditional, by seeking to understand the moral significance of relationships based on long-term and lifelong commitments to love. Modern, by proceeding within a pluralist framework that affirms many kinds of erotic love, depending on the ideals partners embrace and their interpretations (within limits) of love's virtues.

Marriages, as Martin understands them, are moral relationships that involve sexual desires (at some time during the relationship) and are based on long-term commitment, whether or not those commitments are formally sanctioned by legal or religious authorities. In this sense, marriages are not restricted by the law, religious tenets, or the partners' sexual orientation.

Drawing on literature, psychology, and philosophy--from Plato and Shakespeare to Ingmar Bergman, Robert Bellah, and Carol Gilligan; from Tolstoy and D.H. Lawrence to Erich Fromm, Erica Jong, and Alice Walker--Martin reminds us that virtuous erotic love is a way to morally value another person. Understanding love as a virtue-structured way to appreciate others, he illustrates, is itself a step toward renewing marital faith.

Exploring Twins presents an analysis of twinship considered as a specifically social phenomenon. Drawing upon a wide range of interdisciplinary, historical and cross-cultural data, Dr Stewart argues that in both traditional and modern societies, twinship represents a recurrent anomaly which calls into question the assumptions around which different types of society are organized. Part One identifies and analyses the fascinating range of cultural and disciplinary approaches to the interpretation of twinship, while Part Two considers the possibilities for a distinctively social analysis of twinship.

Ross presents an original and controversial examination of the moral principles that guide parents in making health care decisions for their children, and the role of children in the decision-making process. She argues against the current movement to increase child autonomy, in favour of respect for family autonomy, and proposes significant changes in what informed consent allows and requires for paediatric health care decisions.

After a decade of Thatcherism, rising illegitimacy and the moral panic over child sexual abuse, the family is more of a political issue than ever. But is it 'the family' that is in crisis, or family ideology? In this revised edition of an important and controversial book, Diana Gittins adds to a broad range of historical, anthropological and feminist evidence, a new chapter on child sexual abuse.

This volume is a shocking insight into the way the idea of romantic love can justify and excuse the killing of women by their spouses and partners, and lead to sympathy and reduced prison sentences for the killers. The author explores how stories of domestic homicide and love are told in the news, by the police, and in the courts, drawing from the reporting of 72 cases which happened in just one twelve month period. The findings make compelling reading and are important in understanding how we respond to domestic abuse and violence more generally, making clear the need to listen to victims more closely both before and after death. The book also includes a personal account of the aftermath of a double murder which was pivotal to the introduction of Domestic Homicide Reviews in the UK in April 2011.

This book explores how masculinities and fatherhood are transmitted across family generations of white British, Irish and Polish fathers. Providing unique insights into men's lives, migration, employment, father-son relationships and intergenerational transmission, it offers a rich methodological story of how intergenerational research is done.

Despite the increased number of interracial marriages in recent years, Black/White couples still experience a host of problems in American society, particularly in the South. Drawing on extensive interviews with 28 Black/White couples living in the South, this ethnographic study describes the issues and obstacles these couples have to face and documents their overwhelming sense of social isolation. The problems include hostility, encountered while the couple is in public, ranging from stares to outright attacks, as well as a lack of support and ostracization by their families. After discussing the nature of Black/White relationships and the historical implications of interracial couples--beginning with slavery--the authors adopt a life history approach, which allows them to probe deeply into the meaning of the interviewees' responses.

'Belonging' is often overlooked in its relationship to society and social change, and yet it forms the bedrock of how we relate to the world around us. Through the work of Marx, Giddens and Goffman, this book covers the familiar terrain of identity theory, while going beyond it to other sites of identification and social change.

Seamon explores the historical, theological, and societal dynamics of religious intermarriage as a way to introduce scholars to the myriad of factors that have contributed and will continue to contribute to the complete transformation of religion and Christianity in the twenty-first century.

This book explores the significance of food practices for childhood identities, from early babyhood to middle childhood and teenage years. It examines how children and families negotiate food and eating practices; what influence the media has on these; the role institutions play; and how far class and ethnicity shape the food that children eat.

Chinese Families Upside Down offers the first systematic account of how intergenerational dependence is redefining the Chinese family. The authors make a collective effort to go beyond the conventional model of filial piety to explore the rich, nuanced, and often unexpected new intergenerational dynamics. Supported by ethnographic findings from the latest field research, novel interpretations of neo-familism address critical issues from fresh perspectives, such as the ambivalence in grandparenting, the conflicts between individual and family interests, the remaking of the moral self in the face of family crises, and the decisive influence of the Chinese state on family change. The book is an essential read for scholars and students of China studies in particular and for those who are interested in the present-day family and kinship in general.

"This is a much-needed sociological review of stepfamily life, examining the particular issues and challenges which people in stepfamilies face. Combining published studies and original fieldwork, it focuses on the internal dynamics of stepfamily households as well as the relationships sustained with those outside the household"--Provided by publisher.

Fragmented Families addresses a central question in the demographic debates on poverty and fertility transition in southern Africa: . In what ways do women's recurrent encounters with poverty serve to shape their sexual unions, social relationships and reproductive practices? The book focuses on the lives of a group of mothers and daughters from fifteen families in a demarcated part of the Winterveld area in South Africa, and draws attention to historical, socio-cultural, political and economic concerns in order to place in context or make sense of reproductive dynamics and family life at the micro-level. Vignettes, drawn from fieldwork, highlight the particularities of the area: the persistence of historical tensions, diverse livelihoods and complex gender relationships. The intergenerational stories of the women suggest that they live with immense and increasing adversity and that strategies to contend with them sometimes include attempts to assert control over sexual encounters and reproductive outcomes. The book contributes to a continuing debate on how changing socio-economic conditions could influence prospects for and the nature of fertility transition in African countries. The study concurs with alternative arguments that shifts toward lower levels of fertility might be due, in certain contexts, to experiences of severe hardship rather than favourable economic circumstances. Instead of seeking security and risk-aversion through bearing many children the response of indigent women in this area has been largely to resist reproduction, at particular stages of their lives, whilst using sexual relationships and child-bearing as strategies to manipulate and secure resources. In reflecting on methodological approaches, the book draws attention to the limitations of survey research in efforts to elicit 'accurate' representations of reproductive behaviour and fertility preferences, and emphasises the usefulness of more engaged, qualitative and long-term fieldwork endeavours in building substantive insights on women's familial and reproductive lives. _________________________________________ Kammila Naidoo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She completed her PhD at the University of Manchester in 2001 where she was a Commonwealth Scholar between 1998 and 2000. Her work on poverty, family and women's lives has been published in several journals including the Journal of Asian and African Studies, African Sociological Review, South African Review of Sociology and Forum: Qualitative Social Research. Contact: [email protected]. Publication date: August 2009

This book contests the idea that lesbian and gay categories are disappearing, and that sexuality is becoming fluid, by showing how young people use them in a world in which heterosexuality is privileged. Exploring identity making, the book shows how old modernist stories of sexual being entwine with narratives of normality.

This volume of Advances in Gender Research gives space and voice to trans peoples' experiences and interactions with various social institutions, including but not limited to, social media, healthcare and medicalization, the criminal justice system, and the family. The chapters in this volume utilize intersectional approaches, qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and many have clear implications for policy and advocacy for trans and gender diverse people. The first part of the book covers a wide array of issues relating to health and healthcare for trans people, with authors examining health and aging for older trans people, the continued cisnormativity and transphobia that plagues the healthcare field, questions of body modification and how this relates to fertility, as well as access to mental health care. Part two explores trans inclusion in institutions and societies around the world, with authors exploring non-binary gender options on state sanctioned identification, prison experiences and policy recommendations in the U.S. and England, and positive changes to support trans students on college campuses. Part three covers trans resources, healing, and resilience. The aim of this volume is greater than merely updating the research in trans studies, it stems from a desire to support the trans community in the continued fight for recognition and rights. The volume urges scholars to better understand gender expansion and to turn more attention towards trans hope. To encourage this, the volume ends with a section on resources, healing, and resilience, paving the way for the future of trans studies in sociology.

Honorable Mention for the 2014 MLA Alan Bray Memorial Award Finalist for the 2013 LAMBDA LGBT Studies Book Award In nineteenth-century America-before the scandalous trial of Oscar Wilde, before the public emergence of categories like homo- and heterosexuality-what were the parameters of sex? Did people characterize their sexuality as a set of bodily practices, a form of identification, or a mode of relation? Was it even something an individual could be said to possess? What could be counted as sexuality? Tomorrow's Parties: Sex and the Untimely in Nineteenth-Century America provides a rich new conceptual language to describe the movements of sex in the period before it solidified into the sexuality we know, or think we know. Taking up authors whose places in the American history of sexuality range from the canonical to the improbable-from Whitman, Melville, Thoreau, and James to Dickinson, Sarah Orne Jewett, Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, and Mormon founder Joseph Smith-Peter Coviello delineates the varied forms sex could take in the lead-up to its captivation by the codings of "modern" sexuality. While telling the story of nineteenth-century American sexuality, he considers what might have been lostin the ascension of these new taxonomies of sex: all the extravagant, untimely ways of imagining the domain of sex that, under the modern regime of sexuality, have sunken into muteness or illegibility. Taking queer theorizations of temporality in challenging new directions, Tomorrow's Parties assembles an archive of broken-off, uncreated futures-futures that would not come to be. Through them, Coviello fundamentally reorients our readings of erotic being and erotic possibility in the literature of nineteenth-century America.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

aThe first book to date to take an in-depth look at the meaning men and women ascribe to their first experiences with sexual intercourse....This body of research appears to be promising and will likely add much information to literature in the area of sexual behavior.a
&$151;"Sex Roles"

"Well written and engaging, Virginity Lost is an extremely valuable contribution, giving us in depth and moving descriptions of how first sexual experiences changed men's and women's lives and capturing interesting comparisons of both heterosexual and homosexual relationships and encounters. Laura Carpenter assumes nothing, and therefore, learns a great deal. Reading this book has changed the way I look at first intercourse. I am in the author's debt, as is, I believe, the entire field of sexology."
--Pepper Schwartz, author of "Everything You Know about Love and Sex Is Wrong"

"A provocative book. Carpenter's extensive in-depth research shows that the meaning of virginity loss differs by gender and by sexual orientation. For the details, read this excellent book!"
--Judith Lorber, author of "Paradoxes of Gender"

"Laura Carpenter has added hugely to our impoverished understanding of how young people manage the transition from virginity. Her lively and graceful account of virginity loss enriches our knowledge of sexual development."--Frank Furstenberg, author of "Teenage Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing"

"I've read many books in the field of sexuality, and I must say that this is one of the best I've come across. . . . A joy to read."
--Denise Donnelly, co-editor of "Sex Matters: The Sexuality and Society Reader"

aThis is agreat book. It is well researched, grounded in compelling personal stories from 61 diverse young Americans, and accessibly written...Carpenter nicely grounds her analysis in sociocultural context, considering wider social reasons for shifting attitudes toward virginity loss and adeptly attending to the intersecting identifications of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality.a
"Choice," Highly recommended

Nervous, inexperienced, confused. For most, losing your virginity is one of life's most significant moments, always to be remembered. Of course, experiences vary, but Laura Carpenter asks: Is there an ideal way to lose it? What would constitute a "positive" experience? What often compels the big step? And, further, what does "going all the way" really mean for young gays and lesbians?

In this first comprehensive study of virginity loss, Carpenter teases out the complexities of all things virgin by drawing on interviews with both young men and women who are straight, gay or bisexual. Virginity Lost offers a rare window into one of life's most intimate and significant sexual moments. The stories here are frank, poignant and fascinating as Carpenter presents an array of experiences that run the gamut from triumphant to devastating.

Importantly, Carpenter argues that one's experience of virginity loss can have a powerful impact on one's later sexual experiences. Especially at a time of increased debate about sexual abstinence versus safe sex education in public schools, this important volume will provide essential information about the sex lives of young people.

As a history of family life in the squatter settlements of Rio de Janeiro from the 1940s to the 1960s, this study shatters the myth of household disorganization said to be the norm among the urban poor. Using quantitative evidence, field reports by social workers, newspaper accounts, and the recollections of the squatters themselves, the study dissects household structure, economic activity, living standards, and political participation among the one million "favelados" (squatters) living in Rio by 1960, singling out three favelas for comparative analysis. "Favelados" prized family life, and most succeeded in holding their households together against daunting odds. Shantytowns provided residence close to the workplace, and some were erected literally in the shadow of the construction projects where the squatters worked. Indeed, the location and economic activity of the surrounding neighborhood largely determined the ability of the favela to survive. As squatters became an important part of the city work force, they mobilized to put pressure on the authorities to provide collective services like water and electricity.

Men's biological clocks may not be ticking loudly, but what about the social clock? Are there benefits to being in-step with social norms for the timing of parenthood? In a clear and accessible style, this book examines the advantages and disadvantages of early, on-time, and delayed first fatherhood. The book includes a foreword by Ross D. Parke.

Approaching family through the lens of food, this book provides a new perspective on the diversity of contemporary family life, challenging received ideas about the decline of the family meal, the individualization of food choice and the relationship between professional advice on healthy eating and the everyday practices of doing family.