For anyone studying childhood or families a consideration of the state may not always seem obvious, yet a good critical knowledge of politics, social policy and social theory is vital to understanding their impacts upon families' everyday lives. Accessibly written and assuming no prior understanding, it shows how key concepts, including vulnerability, risk, resilience, safeguarding and wellbeing are socially constructed. Carefully designed to support learning, it provides students with clear guidance on how to use what they have read when writing academic assignments alongside questions designed to support the develop of critical thinking skills. Covering issues from what the family is within a multicultural society, through issues around poverty, social mobility and life-chances, this book gives students an excellent grounding in matters relating to work with children and families. It features: * 'using this chapter' sections showing how the content can be used in assignments; * tips on applying critical thinking to books and articles - and how to make use of such thinking in essays; * further reading.

Supriya Singh tells the stories of 12 Anglo-Celtic and Indian women in Australia who survived economic abuse. She describes the lived experience of coercive control underlying economic abuse across cultures. Each story shows how the woman was trapped and lost her freedom because her husband denied her money, appropriated her assets and sabotaged her ability to be in paid work. These stories are about silence, shame and embarrassment that this could happen despite professional and graduate education. Some of the women were the main earners in their household. Women spoke of being afraid, of trying to leave, of losing their sense of self. Many suffered physical and mental ill-health, not knowing what would trigger the violence. Some attempted suicide. None of the women fully realised they were suffering family violence through economic abuse, whilst it was happening to them. The stories of Anglo-Celtic and Indian women show economic abuse is not associated with a specific system of money management and control. It is when the morality of money is betrayed that control becomes coercive. Money as a medium of care then becomes a medium of abuse. The women's stories demonstrate the importance of talking about money and relationships with future partners, across life stages and with their sons and daughters. The women saw this as an essential step for preventing and lessening economic abuse. A vital read for scholars of domestic abuse and family violence that will also be valuable for sociologists of money.

In the 1950s heated views were sometimes expressed about the alleged social results of married women going out to work. Originally published in 1962 Married Women Working attempts to examine the question objectively. It is based on two studies undertaken over a period of nearly five years in a solidly working-class London district – one, a detailed study in the factory of a well-known firm of biscuit makers (Peek Freans) relying mainly on married women workers; the other, a more general one, in the surrounding borough as a whole. How effective was the married woman as an employee? How did the firm cope with their new type of labour and with what results? What was the effect on the woman herself, and on her family, of her attempt to fill the dual role of home-maker and paid worker? These are some of the questions examined in this book, which also gives a very fascinating picture of how people lived at the time, against the background of earlier generations.

Originally published in 1971, Homes in High Flats was written at a time when multi-storey flats were a popular solution to the world-wide need for mass housing because they could be produced with speed. However, the social implications of domestic housing in high flats were causing local authorities in Western Europe to reconsider their efficiency. Original research into this question forms the basis of this book which concentrates on Glasgow but gives attention to other examples both in Britain and abroad. The text attempts to encompass all the social and practical aspects of life in high flats by studying tenants’ views on the physical character of the flats and estates, and by examining the success of tenants’ associations and extra-mural classes designed to develop community life. Practical problems are dealt with in chapters on facilities and services, families, children, the elderly and the case for investment in staff. The authors also compare multi-storey flats with other types of household and discuss the reasons for tenants’ movement out of the estate. Perhaps the most eloquent social comment on the shortcomings of high flat life is expressed in the lyrics of the Jeely Piece Song which is included in the Appendix.

- Includes contributions from a wide range of international authors. - The first book to address the dynamic issues related to sexuality from a social work perspective. - Provides a holistic overview of the topic by including both diverse and inclusive perspectives.

This timely book reveals how policies of childcare and early childhood education influence children's circumstances and the daily lives of families with children. Examining how these policies are approached, it focuses particularly on the issues and pitfalls related to equal access. Chapters explore early childhood education and care policies in different social and geographical contexts, highlighting the different ways in which stakeholders - including parents, administrators and policy makers - approach issues of equality. The book further analyses what is meant by, and expected of, early childhood education and care in society and how this varies between nations. Key case studies in the context of liberal, conservative and universal approaches to welfare are used to show the broad differences between them, problematizing the notion of equal access. Social policy, family studies and sociology scholars will appreciate the new insights into the question of the equality of societies offered in this book. It will also prove incisive for researchers looking at the family and early childhood education, as well as for politicians and administrators working in the field.

This book presents new interdisciplinary and intersectional research about women as mothers, highlighting that alternative accounts of mothering can challenge normative societal assumptions and broaden understandings of women as mothers, mothering and motherhoods. Mothering occurs within unequal power relations associated with the disadvantages and privileges of an unjust and patriarchal society. Social inequalities associated with gender, race, class, age, ability, sexuality, violence and nationalism intersect in the lives of women as mothers, to shape their lived experiences and perspectives on mothering. Showcasing the breadth and depth of feminist research on mothering, this book gives attention to the diversity of ways in which mothering is constructed and responded to as well as how mothering is experienced. Drawing on intersectional feminist thought, the book challenges normative visions of 'good mothering' and interrogates constructs of 'bad mothering'. It brings together insights from multidisciplinary scholars who use feminist approaches in their research on mothering, to inform policy development and practice when working with women as mothers in diverse circumstances. Intersections of Mothering highlights the complexities of mothering in a contemporary world, show the benefits of considering mothering through an intersectional feminist lens, make visible lived experiences of mothers and provides challenges to dominant imaginings of and service responses to women as mothers. Intersections of Mothering will be essential reading for interdisciplinary scholars and students in criminology, gender and women's studies, motherhood studies, social welfare, social work, social policy and public health policy, in addition to practitioners and policy workers that respond to women as mothers.

Narrative and Dramatic Approaches to Children's Life Story with Foster, Adoptive and Kinship Families outlines narrative and dramatic approaches to improve vulnerable family relationships. It provides a model which offers new ways for parents to practise communicating with their children and develop positive relationships. The book focuses on the Theatre of Attachment model - a highly innovative approach which draws from a strong theoretical base to demonstrate the importance of narrative and dramatic play for sharing the children's life history in the family home with their adoptive, foster or kinship parents. An emphasis is on having fun ways to work through complex feelings and divided loyalties, so as to secure attachment. This practice model aims to raise children's self-esteem and communication skills and to combat the profound effects of abuse, neglect on trauma on children's development. This book will be of great interest for academics, post-graduate students, universities and Training bodies, service providers and practitioners involved in social work and creative therapies, child psychologists, child psychotherapists and public and private adoption and foster care agencies.

Interdisciplinary and intersectional in emphasis, the Routledge Companion to Motherhood brings together essays on current intellectual themes, issues, and debates, while also creating a foundation for future scholarship and study as the field of Motherhood Studies continues to develop globally. This Routledge Companion is the first extensive collection on the wide-ranging topics, themes, issues, and debates that ground the intellectual work being done on motherhood. Global in scope and including a range of disciplinary perspectives, including anthropology, literature, communication studies, sociology, women's and gender studies, history, and economics, this volume introduces the foundational topics and ideas in motherhood, delineates the diversity and complexity of mothering, and also stimulates dialogue among scholars and students approaching from divergent backgrounds and intellectual perspectives. This will become a foundational text for academics in Women's and Gender Studies and interdisciplinary researchers interested in this important, complex and rapidly growing topic. Scholars of psychology, sociology or public policy, and activists in both university and workplace settings interested in motherhood and mothering will find it an invaluable guide.

With the dramatic changes in the extent to which women and men contribute to unpaid domestic work and paid employment, work and family life reconciliation has become more prominent than ever on the European Union agenda. This comparative study examines the Europeanisation patterns of work and family life reconciliation policies in a longstanding candidate country, Turkey and a founding member state, Germany, over the last decade, with a particular emphasis on intervening domestic actors and factors. Combining Europeanisation literature and New Institutionalism theory, it draws on document analysis and interviews with EU representatives, German and Turkish political elites and representatives of civil society organisations to shed light on the diverging nature of the Europeanisation process in different countries. A study of the influence of local actors on the push for stronger convergence among member and candidate states on EU work and family life reconciliation policies The Politics of Europeanisation will appeal to social scientists with interests in social policy, gender studies, EU politics and the Europeanisation process.

The economic and political systems, legal code and religious beliefs of the people of the New Guinea village of Busama were analysed by H. Ian Hogbin in his earlier work, Transformation Scene (1951). In this new study founded on field work carried out at intervals over a seven year period, he is concerned primarily with the individual in his relations with the kinship structure. He takes a typical Busama through a full span of life, from birth through infancy, childhood, adolescence, and marriage to maturity and death; and he shows how each stage in the individual's life involves a change in his kinship relationships and responsibilities. This approach gives the professional anthropologist a set of carefully presented data analysed in line with the contemporary emphasis on seeing the relations between kin in the context of the local community, and it also offers the general reader an enjoyable and authentic account of the intimacies of Melanesian life.

Dr Djamour spent two years in Singapore, both in the city and in a Malay fishing village, and her first-hand account draws a lively and sympathetic picture of behaviour within the family and between kinsmen. It is nonetheless an important contribution to social anthropology and discusses, as its central topic, the instability of Malay marriage. The causes and consequences of this phenomenon, which involve social, economic, and psychological considerations, are analysed in some detail. The social picture which emerges has wide validity throughout the country and should prove of value to all who seek a fuller knowledge of Malay society.

Marriage and the Family among the Yako in South-Eastern Nigeria

This title was first published in 2001. A systematic study of non-relative adoption in Hong Kong. It examines the changing profile of non-relative adoption between 1987 and 1993, from the author's analysis of 486 case files. Characteristics of the adoptive parents, adopted children and their birth parents are presented in descriptive statistics. Three predictors of adoption stresses are identified. Adjustment in adoption and threat to parental entitlement were positively related to adoption stress; parental education was negatively related to it. Apart from being more stressful, Chinese adopters were found to be significantly different from non-Chinese for having a lower level of acknowledgement of difference. They are more worrisome over the relationship with birth parents, are less ready to reveal adoption, have better adoptive parent-child relationship, and possess higher levels of personal qualities. The findings of the study suggest that a post-legal adoption service is urgently needed.

Philosophical Reflections on Mothering in Trauma examines the lived experience of mothering children who have been seriously harmed by others. Using an interdisciplinary approach, that employs a feminist phenomenology and an emphasis on narrative theory, this ground-breaking work gives voice to experiences of trauma, and of mothering, not ordinarily heard in philosophical discourses. With a philosophical lens, Melissa Burchard examines the challenges faced by families during the adoption and parenting of abused children. In doing so, Burchard argues that the investigation of traumatic experience poses questions that philosophers must address if we are to improve collective understanding of the human condition. These questions centre around the epistemological implications of traumatic experience, the role of power and privilege in abusive relationships, and the interconnected issues of morality and moral agency in trauma, problematic desires engendered in traumatic circumstances, and therapeutic responses to trauma. The book expresses ways in which mothering wounded children can, if we are deeply engaged and reflective, shift our understandings of what it means to be parents, to be children, to love, to know, to construct a self, to feel desire, to nurture, to coerce, and to live in the ambiguity of not knowing which decisions are right and which are wrong.

The study of family and inheritance systems is a traditionally anthropological one. Dr Davis has examined a South Italian town with records from 1814 and concludes that the present 'typical' European system is of recent adoption, a response to the gradual and peculiar integration of Pisticci into a nation-state and national economy. The account of landholding distinguishes carefully between legal rights and informal cessions of land, and agriculture is put into the context of other economic activities. Dr Davis emphasises the structural importance of kin, family and neighbourhood relationships as bases for the creation of more ephemeral ties of friendship, clientage and network.

Caught between two worlds of social transition and modern progression, young women in the Middle East have for some time been forging means to balance conventional gender roles and marriage expectations, while also advancing their position in society through improved legal status, health and educational attainment. Yet, with half of Egypt's university-educated women out of the labour market and not seeking work, this study reveals why middle-class women continue to pursue a degree that they fail to use. This book sheds light onto the lives of highly educated middle-class Egyptian women, where they share their stories of spouse selection and marriage, and how education, wealth and unyielding gender roles influence their employment status. Through qualitative ethnography, Negotiating Marriage, Family and Work gives voice to young Egyptian women, both married and single, presenting their self-perceptions, their roles as mothers and wives, and their agency. Carried out from the time of the Arab Spring, this research uncovers the key strategies that middle-class women employ to secure their economic well-being in their marital and domestic contexts, as well as the barriers that married women face in combining paid work and family care.

It is often asserted that 'A family that prays together, stays together'. But what if a child no longer wishes to pray? This book analyses the law in relation to situations where parents force their children to manifest the parental religion. From thorough examination of international law it argues that, unlike what is generally believed, the human rights regime does not grant parents a right to impose manifestations of their religion on their children. Instead, the author proposes to regard coerced manifestations as a limitation on children's right to freedom of manifestation, based on national laws that give parents rights at the domestic level under principles such as parental responsibility. The book focuses on two aspects of States' positive obligations in this regard. First, the obligation to provide a regulatory framework that can protect children's right to freedom of manifestation, and restricts limitations to those that are proportionate or 'necessary in a democratic society'. Second, to provide access to remedies, which it is argued should consist of access to a family-friendly infrastructure for dispute resolution available to parents and children in conflict over religious manifestation. Both depend heavily on the way States balance power between parents and children at the national level. The book includes three case studies and social research of jurisdictions that offer different perspectives under the principles of parental authority (France), parental responsibility (England) and parental rights (Hong Kong).

This book examines the needs, aspirations, strategies, and challenges of transnational Muslim migrants in Europe with regard to family practices such as marriage, divorce, and parenting. Critically re-conceptualizing 'wellbeing' and unpacking its multiple dimensions in the context of Muslim families, it investigates how migrants make sense of and draw on different norms, laws, and regimes of knowledge as they navigate different aspects of family relations and life in a transnational social space. With attention to issues such as registration of marriage, civil versus religious marriage, spousal roles and rights, polygamy, parenting, child wellbeing, and everyday security, the authors offer national and comparative case studies of Muslim families from different parts of the world, covering different family bonds and relations, within both extended and nuclear families. Based on empirical research in the Nordic region and further afield, this volume affords a more complete understanding of the practices of transnational migrant families, as well as the processes through which family relations and rights are negotiated between family members and with state institutions and laws, whilst contributing to the growing literature on migrant wellbeing. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology and social policy with interests in migration and transnational communities, wellbeing, and the family.

Divided into 15 chapters, this book provides the reader with an insight into certain representations of mothers and motherhood in history and today's societies in some areas of the world, notably in Britain and Asia. Key facts about the history of motherhood are presented, together with the use of very recent notions and phrases portraying 'good' and 'bad' mothers. An analysis of the concepts of naming and blaming, along with regret with respect to mothers in 21st century societies, provides food for thought. Other issues addressed are varied and numerous: the politics of early intervention, feminist critique, mothers with disabilities and mothers of disabled children, incarcerated mothers, surrogate mothers, teenage mothers, lesbian mothers, and mothering in Eastern Asia, namely in China, Japan, and Korea. Interestingly, both visual arts and literature play a crucial role in this analysis. The publication will appeal to students, academics, researchers, and the general public interested in and seeking to comprehend the shifts that have occurred over time in connection with the vast and inexhaustible subject of motherhood and mothers - a private and public matter. Readers are also provided with a rich reference section dealing with the latest publications on the issues tackled by prominent academics and researchers in human geography, women's studies, sociology, gender studies, contemporary history, and the arts.

This book examines what it means to be a family within the restrictive, disruptive, and often distressing context of imprisonment. Drawing on original qualitative data, it looks beyond traditional models of the family to examine the question of which relationships matter to individuals affected by imprisonment, and demonstrates how family relationships are actively constructed and maintained through family "practices" and "displays" such as visits, shared experiences and continuing family memories and traditions. It sheds new light not only on the true extent of who is impacted by the imposition of a prison sentence, but also the barriers to family life that these individuals encounter throughout its duration. This book also contributes to our understanding of wider issues such as poverty and social marginalisation, the role of family relationships on desistance from crime, and legitimacy. It argues that the act of supporting an individual in custody can bring families into regular contact with the criminal justice system in ways that can be both distressing and problematic, and therefore contends that the prison system should minimise the damage caused by imprisonment not only to family relationships, but also to the perceived legitimacy of the criminal justice system. Generating new conceptual insights into the harms of imprisonment and how perceptions of legitimacy and fairness are shaped by the criminal justice system, this book will be of much interest to students of criminology and sociology engaged in studies of criminal justice, prisons, gender, social work, and punishment. It will also be of interest to policy makers, penal-reformers, and activists.

The Home in the Digital Age is a set of multidisciplinary studies exploring the impact of digital technologies in the home, with a shift of emphasis from technology to the people living and using this in their homes. The book covers a wide variety of topics on the design, introduction and use of digital technologies in the home, combining the technological dimension with the cognitive, emotional, cultural and symbolic dimensions of the objects that incorporate digital technologies and project them onto people's lives. It offers a coherent approach, that of the home, which gives unity to the discussion. Scholars of the home, the house and the family will find here the connection with the problems derived from the use of domestic robots and connected devices. Students of artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, big data and other branches of digital technologies will find ideas and arguments to apply their disciplines to the home and participate fruitfully in forums where digital technologies are built and negotiated in the home. Experts from various disciplines psychologists and sociologists; philosophers, epistemologists and ethicists; economists; engineers, architects, urban planners and designers and so on and also those interested in developing policies for the home and family will find this book contains well-founded and useful ideas to focus their work.

Parent-directed aggression and violence by children is a complex issue and may not be explained by focusing upon a single factor. The affected parents tend to delay seeking help from professionals due to not knowing where to seek help or even an inability to identify their experiences as a problem. This book provides parents and professionals with the much-needed information to tackle this incidence. In this book, Hue San Kuay and Graham Towl draw upon the evidence from past studies and case examples to describe the occurrence of child to parent aggression and violence, and highlight the roles by individuals and communities in intervening and preventing agression and violence. The nature-versus-nurture debate is included and callous-unemotional traits are explained as a predictor of aggression. The effect of parent-directed aggression is discussed, and prevention and intervention methods are presented. Delaying help-seeking could lead to serious consequences and make it harder to effectively intervene. Child to Parent Aggression and Violence is an essential read for practitioners and researchers working with parents, and most importantly, for parents themselves. This book includes suggestions for interventions, self-assessment on parent-directed aggression by children, and points of contact as reference to ease the process for both parents and practitioners. The authors will donate their royalties in full to Family Lives, UK. This organisation was registered as a charity in 1999. Previously known as Parentline, they provide support for families through a helpline and also offer drop-in sessions. They give tailored parental support within the community and schools, and offer support on issues such as bullying, special educational needs, and support for specific groups.

This book is the first Australian study, based on extensive fieldwork, of the personal backgrounds and processes by which juveniles get drawn into risky and violent situations that culminate in murder. Drawing on interviews with every juvenile under sanction of life imprisonment in the State of South Australia (2015-2019), it investigates links in the chain of events that led to the lethal violence that probably would have been broken had there been appropriate intervention. Specifically, the book asks whether the existing criminal justice frame is the appropriate way to deal with children who commit grave acts. The extent to which prison facilitates and/or inhibits the mental, emotional, and social development of juvenile 'lifers' is a critical issue. Most - if not all - will be released at some point, with key issues of risk (public protection) and rehabilitation (probability of desistance) coming sharply to the fore. In addition, this book is also the first to capture how significant others including mothers, fathers, grandparents, and siblings are affected when children kill and the level of commitment these relatives have towards supporting the prisoner in his or her quest to build a positive future. Written in a clear and direct style, this book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, andpenology; practitioners working in social policy; and all those interested in the lives and backgrounds of juvenile offenders.

First published in 1981, Victorian Values is an investigation into the social causes behind the decline of the birth rate and the size of families in Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century. The author looks at the interplay of the rising standard of living, the emancipation of women, the attitude to children and education and the effects of the meritocratic ideal, and their interaction with religious ideas of sexual morality. He considers the pioneers of birth control, but other factors are considered which might contribute to the retreat from the very large families of an earlier period. The book is a brilliant example of how the sociologist can illuminate the problems of the social and economic historian, and at the same time contribute to developing ideas about future social policy.