Drawing from a study of courtship media and ethnographic work at purity retreats and home-school conventions across the Midwest, this is the first inquiry into modern Christian courtship, an alternative to dating that asks young people to avoid both romance and sex until they are ready to be married. Bridging sociological and historical studies of American Christianity with youth and girlhood studies literatures, Elizabeth Shively finds that the courtship system is designed to shore up the patriarchal nuclear family structure at the center of conservative Christianity and ensure predictability in the face of emerging adulthood: single young women work to embody ideals of "luminous femininity" and model themselves after archetypes such as the "Proverbs 31 woman," the "stay-at-home-daughter," and the "mission-minded girl," and courting couples strive to "guard their hearts" against premature emotional intimacy. Nonetheless, participants report that courtship, like other relationships, inevitably carries an element of risk, and it ultimately fails to offer a substantial challenge to the to the sexist realities of youth dating culture.

Over the centuries, drama has been an influential and imaginative medium for presenting, analysing and offering ways of resolving real or fictional battles. This volume provides readers with a timely study of inter-generational conflicts and crises as seen through the eyes of male and female British and Irish playwrights from the medieval period to the twenty-first century. The contributions suggest that at the heart of inter-generational discord lies various crises between (the) age(d) and youth or, more generally, the idea of what is "old" and "new". The interaction and co-existence of age and youth in their embodied, symbolic or conceptual forms is the topic of this volume. The collection is built around the words "age(d)"/"young", which denote both the biological age of the characters and the more conceptual potential of these terms. Ultimately, the contributors to this collection of essays analyse not only the idea of inter-generationality within selected dramatic works but also inter-generational conflicts seen in clashes of cultures, artistic visions, concepts and aesthetic idea(l)s.

"And Yet I Remember" explores representations of ageing and old age in English drama from 1660 to the 1750s. Within these approximately ninety years, England witnessed significant developments in medicine and the advent of sentimental philosophy, which began to transform attitudes toward old age and ageing. This study discusses the enduring cultural and literary stereotyping of old(er) people in culture and drama of this period. The chapters are organised around the stereotypes that kept reappearing in cultural, medical and religious narratives on old age, namely the desiring old man (senex amans) and woman (the "lusty old widow") and the nostalgic and wise elder. Exploring many diverse storylines between 1660 and the 1750s that treat old age and present old(er) characters, the analyses in this study further show how the choice of genre, personal experiences and attitudes of the playwright, and political and cultural revolutions affected the representation of older people.

"Good Parents or Good Workers?" draws upon new ethnographic studies and longitudinal interviews that are reporting on the daily lives of women and children under new welfare policy pressures. Contributors look at family policy in the context of daily demands and critique new social programs that are designed to strengthen families. The book is divided into three course-friendly sections that deal with the impact of welfare reform on caregiving, the lived experiences of low-income families, and family policy debates." Good Parents or Good Workers?" is an important text on the impacts of welfare reform that will be essential reading in a variety of courses in education, sociology, and politics.

This book focuses on the issues encountered by children and young people who are living with HIV/AIDS. It examines their lived experiences associated with HIV/AIDS, and studies groups of children and youngsters from around the globe. Connecting empirical information with real-life situations, the book brings together results from empirical research that relates to these children and young people. Its chapters can be used as evidence for health care providers to implement socially and culturally appropriate services to assist individuals and groups of children and young people who are living with HIV/AIDS in many societies. Many of these young people are from the most marginalized and vulnerable groups; and many have been orphaned by the death of their HIV-positive parents. Marginalized young people such as refugees, migrants and street children are most at risk due to the use of illicit drugs, their exposure to unprotected sex (in exchange for food, money and protection), and stigma associated with their marginalized lives. The impact that HIV/AIDS has on the opportunities for these young people to be able to lead healthy adult lives is considerable. This book gives a voice to these children and young people and advances our understanding of their lived experiences and needs.

This book combines a theoretical and empirical cross-national perspective to examine how societal transformations in European welfare states affect patterns of solidarity between men and women, and across generations. The authors' research has highlighted substantial discrepancies in various countries between the assumptions made at the macro-level of social policy on family issues and the reality of women's and men's contributions at home. In countries where social policy relies on family solidarity as the main source of support, this may result in growing social inequality. Finally, the chapters reveal the crucial role of women in the transformation of family life and welfare state policy. These conclusions could have important ramifications for European welfare policy. The cross-national perspective allows for a detailed understanding of the similarities and differences between the various European countries and their policies. Solidarity Between the Sexes and the Generations will appeal to scholars and researchers of social policy, sociology and welfare as well as women and gender studies. Because of its comparative perspective the book is also of interest to those involved in developing social policy in European countries.

This book traces the growing influence of 'neuroparenting' in British policy and politics. Neuroparenting advocates claim that all parents require training, especially in how their baby's brain develops. Taking issue with the claims that 'the first years last forever' and that infancy is a 'critical period' during which parents must strive ever harder to 'stimulate' their baby's brain just to achieve normal development, the author offers a trenchant and incisive case against the experts who claim to know best and in favour of the privacy, intimacy and autonomy which makes family life worth living. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of Sociology, Family and Intimate Life, Cultural Studies, Neuroscience, Social Policy and Child Development, as well as individuals with an interest in family policy-making.

This book explores how young children and new families are located in the consumer world of affluent societies. The author assesses the way in which the value of infants and monetary value in markets are realized together, and examines how the meanings of childhood are enacted in the practices, narratives and materialities of contemporary markets. These meanings formulate what is important in the care of young children, creating moralities that impact not only on new parents, but also circumscribe the possibilities for monetary value creation. Three main understandings of early childhood - those of love, protection and purification - and their interrelationships are covered, and illustrated with examples including food, feeding tools, nappies, travel systems and toys. The book concludes by re-examining the relationship between adulthood and the cultural value of young children, and by discussing the implications of the ways markets address young children, also examines the realities of older children in consumer culture. Childhood and Markets will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, childhood studies, anthropology, cultural studies, media studies, business studies and marketing.

As a unique piece of research this book will be of huge value to anyone interested in Chinese culture and society, Chinese social policy, globalisation and cultural studies.

This volume explores how Irish children were 'constructed' by various actors including the state, youth organisations, authors and publishers in the period before and after Ireland gained independence in 1922. It examines the broad variety of ways in which the Irish child was constructed through social and cultural activities like education, sport, youth organizations, and cultural production such as literature, toys, and clothes, covering themes ranging from gender, religion and social class, to the broader politics of identity, citizenship, and nation-building. A variety of ideals and ideologies, some of them conflicting, competed to inform how children were constructed by the adults who looked on them as embodying the future of the nation. Contributors ask fundamental questions about how children were constructed as part of the idealisation of the state before its formation, and the consolidation of the state after its foundation.

This book addresses the recent marginalisation of class theory in youth sociology. The authors argue for the importance of reinstating class analysis as central to understanding young people's lives in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Their analysis recognises that in periods of social change, class relationships and processes can and do get reconfigured, but by drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, they show that class, while being dynamic, remains core to shaping the everyday lives of young people. Students and scholars across a range of areas including the sociology of youth, sociology of education, social work and social policy will find this book of interest.

This book addresses how best to meet everyday challenges. The author focuses on how to think and act differently about what we do as we face challenges, and how to assess each situation as one of challenge rather than threat or harm because we have the strategies to cope. Spanning eleven chapters, the book examines the best ways to provide the core skills for life, to children, adolescents and adults, and how that is best achieved through the contemporary theories of coping. Coping has traditionally been defined in terms of reaction; that is, how people respond after or during a stressful event. More recently, coping is being defined more broadly to include anticipatory, preventive and proactive coping. This book provides case studies of resilient adults in a range of settings, highlighting how coping resources have helped them to overcome adversity. Researchers, students of psychology and social work, practitioners and those interested in the self-help field will find this book invaluable.

This edited volume provides a critical account of the theories and policies that have informed work in the field of early childhood and explores how they have operated in practice. Underpinning the theoretical debates are the familiar tensions between global norms and local contexts; increasing inequality alongside economic progress, and the increasing prominence of business and the private sector in delivering aid programs. The authors offer a profound critique on an increasingly important topic and discuss alternative models of policy and practice.

Never before in human existence have the aged been so numerous - and for the most part - healthy. In this important new book, two professionals, an anthropologist and a physician, wrestle with the complex subject of aging. Is it inevitable? Is it a burden or gift? What is successful aging? Why are some people better at aging than others? Where is aging located? How does it vary among individuals, within and between groups, cultures, societies, and indeed, over the centuries? Reflecting on these and other questions, the authors comment on the impact age has in their lives and work. Two unique viewpoints are presented. While medicine approaches aging with special attention given to the body, its organs, and its functions over time, anthropology focuses on how the aged live within their cultural settings. As this volume makes clear, the two disciplines have a great deal to teach each other, and in a spirited exchange, the authors show how professional barriers can be surmounted. In a novel approach, each author explores a different aspect of aging in alternating chapters. These chapters are in turn followed by a commentary by the other. Further, the authors interrupt each other within the chapters - to raise questions, contradict, ask for clarification, and explore related ideas - with these interjections emphasizing the dynamic nature of their ideas about age. Finally, a third "voice" - that of a random old man - periodically inserts itself into the text to remind the authors of their necessarily limited understanding of the subject.

Never before in human existence have the aged been so numerous - and for the most part - healthy. In this important new book, two professionals, an anthropologist and a physician, wrestle with the complex subject of aging. Is it inevitable? Is it a burden or gift? What is successful aging? Why are some people better at aging than others? Where is aging located? How does it vary among individuals, within and between groups, cultures, societies, and indeed, over the centuries? Reflecting on these and other questions, the authors comment on the impact age has in their lives and work. Two unique viewpoints are presented. While medicine approaches aging with special attention given to the body, its organs, and its functions over time, anthropology focuses on how the aged live within their cultural settings. As this volume makes clear, the two disciplines have a great deal to teach each other, and in a spirited exchange, the authors show how professional barriers can be surmounted. In a novel approach, each author explores a different aspect of aging in alternating chapters. These chapters are in turn followed by a commentary by the other. Further, the authors interrupt each other within the chapters - to raise questions, contradict, ask for clarification, and explore related ideas - with these interjections emphasizing the dynamic nature of their ideas about age. Finally, a third "voice" - that of a random old man - periodically inserts itself into the text to remind the authors of their necessarily limited understanding of the subject.

First published in 1998. This is Volume IX of the fifteen in the Sociology of Gender and the Family series and explores age groups and social structure from generation to generation. The purpose of this book is to analyze the various social phenomena known as age groups, youth movements, etc., and to ascertain whether it is possible to specify the social conditions under which they arise or the types of societies in which they occur. It is the m ain thesis of this book that the existence of these groups is n o t fortuitous or random , and that they arise and exist only under very specific social conditions. The authors have also attempted to show that the analysis of these conditions is not only of purely antiquarian or ethnological interest, but that it can also shed light on the understanding of the conditions of stability and continuity of social systems.

Since the 1971 White House Conference on Aging in the United States, the need to move from religiosity into new areas such as Spiritual Assessment and Spirituality has emerged. This movement has picked up momentum among scholars, particularly in terms of research in the area of Spirituality. While spirituality as a term is employed in many new studies, this term continues to defy the quest for a single definition and method. This book is divided into three sections. In the first the authors reflect on the philosophical and theological issues presented by these terms from a variety of both cognate and practical methodological approaches. The second section offers insights from the major professions of sociology, psychology, public health, nursing and social work. The final section offers insight and assistance to researchers and authors on specific religious traditions. This book will be important for anyone working to develop such practical tools as spiritual assessment forms to those who engage in more formal scholarly investigation.

Since the 1971 White House Conference on Aging in the United States, the need to move from religiosity into new areas such as Spiritual Assessment and Spirituality has emerged. This movement has picked up momentum among scholars, particularly in terms of research in the area of Spirituality. While spirituality as a term is employed in many new studies, this term continues to defy the quest for a single definition and method. This book is divided into three sections. In the first the authors reflect on the philosophical and theological issues presented by these terms from a variety of both cognate and practical methodological approaches. The second section offers insights from the major professions of sociology, psychology, public health, nursing and social work. The final section offers insight and assistance to researchers and authors on specific religious traditions. This book will be important for anyone working to develop such practical tools as spiritual assessment forms to those who engage in more formal scholarly investigation.

"This volume illuminates how families and the communities in which they are enmeshed negotiate everyday lives with the social, cultural, economic, and political resources available to them. It provides an excellent example of how anthropology matters to our understanding of the contemporary world and its global restructuring." Karen Tranberg Hansen, Northwestern University

Globalization is not only a large-scale phenomenon: it is also inextricably bound up with intimate aspects of personhood, care, and the daily decisions through which we make our lives. Looking at sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, Mexico, the U.S., Europe, India, and China, Generations and Globalization investigates the impact of globalization in the context of families, age groups, and intergenerational relations. The contributors offer an innovative approach that focuses on the changing dynamics between generations, rather than treating changes in childhood, youth, or old age as discrete categories. They argue that new economies and global flows do not just transform contemporary family life, but are in important ways shaped and constituted by it.

Contributors are Jennifer Cole, Deborah Durham, Jessica Greenberg, Sarah Lamb, Julie Livingston, Roger Magazine, Andrea Muehlebach, Martha Areli Ramirez Sanchez, and T. E. Woronov."

Intergenerational Space offers insight into the transforming relationships between younger and older members of contemporary societies. The chapter selection brings together scholars from around the world in order to address pressing questions both about the nature of contemporary generational divisions as well as the complex ways in which members of different generations are (and can be) involved in each other's lives. These questions include: how do particular kinds of spaces and spatial arrangements (e.g. cities, neighbourhoods, institutions, leisure sites) facilitate and limit intergenerational contact and encounters? What processes and spaces influence the intergenerational negotiation and contestation of values, beliefs, and social memory, producing patterns of both continuity and change? And if generational separation and segregation are in fact significant social problems across a range of contexts-as a significant body of research and commentary attests-how can this be ameliorated? The chapters in this collection make original contributions to these debates drawing on original research from Belgium, China, Finland, Poland, Senegal, Singapore, Tanzania, Uganda, the United States and the United Kingdom. .

This book draws on a longitudinal study which highlights the beneficial impact of film in the primary curriculum. It provides detailed accounts of both the reading process as understood within the field of literacy education, and of film theory as it relates to issues such as narration, genre and audience. The book focuses on a small cohort of children to explore how progression in reading film develops throughout a child's time in Key Stage 2; it also examines how the skills and understanding required to read film can support the reading of print, and vice versa, in an 'asset model' approach. Since children's progression in reading film is found to be not necessarily age-related, but rather built on a period of experience and opportunity to read and/or create moving image media, Bulman clearly illustrates the importance of the inclusion of film in the primary curriculum. The book provides an accessible study to a large audience of primary teachers and practitioners, and will be a valuable resource for students and researchers in the fields of education, English and media studies.

This is the first study to examine the entire life cycle in the Middle Ages. Drawing on a wide range of secondary and primary material, the book explores the timing and experiences of infancy, childhood, adolescence and youth, adulthood, old age and, finally, death. It discusses attitudes towards ageing, rites of passage, age stereotypes in operation, and the means by which age was used as a form of social control, compelling individuals to work, govern, marry and pay taxes. The wide scope of the study allows contrasts and comparisons to be made across gender, social status and geographical location. It considers whether men and women experienced the ageing process in the same way, and examines the differences that can be discerned between northern and southern Europe. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries suffered famine, warfare, plague and population collapse. This fascinating consideration of the life cycle adds a new dimension to the debate over continuity and change in a period of social and demographic upheaval. -- .

This book brings together historians, sociologists and social scientists to examine aspects of youth culture. The book's themes are riots, music and gangs, connecting spectacular expression of youthful disaffection with everyday practices. By so doing, Youth Culture and Social Change maps out new ways of historicizing responses to economic and social change: public unrest and popular culture.

The republication of "From Generation to Generation"-almost half a century after its first appearance in 1956-constitutes a good occasion for a look at the way in which problems of youth and generations developed in contemporary societies. In this brilliant, pioneering effort, different approaches in the social sciences to the analysis of these issues receive close scrutiny. Eisenstadt reexamines these issues by including in this edition several new chapters on this theme. New to this edition are essays on "The Archetypal Patterns of Youth;" "Intellectual Rebellion and Generation Conflict;" and "Youth, Generation Consciousness and Historical Change." All of these articles shift emphasis from the structural-institutional analysis presented in the original edition of "From Generation to Generation" to the importance of cultural definitions of youth and generations in radically different societies. In a new introduction, "Sociological Analysis and Youth Rebellion," Eisenstadt undertakes a historical as well as analytical treatment of young people. He reviews decades of alienation of the young, the rebellion of students, and more generally, intergenerational conflict. His major finding is that youth groups tend to arise in those societies whose integrative principles are set aside from family and kinship relations. His work now considers recent dynamic specifics of youth culture as they relate to existing theory, the social and political policies of institutional entrepreneurs as they attempt to bring youth back into the fold of adult society, and the impact on society of the ideology of rebellion. The author states that with the young, any given situation of change opens up a variety of possibilities for development of new types of institutional, organizational, and behavioral patterns. Hence, in the crystallization of institutional frameworks a crucial part is played by those people who evince a special capacity to set up broad orientations to propound new norms and to articulate new goals. The same, of course, applies to the analysis of age groups and youth activities, which Eisenstadt undertakes in this classic work. Professor S. N. Eisenstadt teaches at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is frequently a visiting professor at American universities. He is the author of "The Political Systems of Empires," which won the 1964 McIver Award, and which has been published by Transaction in a new paperback edition.

Providing the first UK assessment of environmental gerontology, this book enriches current understanding of the spatiality of ageing. Sheila Peace considers how places and spaces contextualise personal experience in varied environments, from urban and rural to general and specialised housing. Situating extensive research within multidisciplinary thinking, and incorporating policy and practice, this book assesses how personal health and wellbeing affect different experiences of environment. It also considers the value of intergenerational and age-related living, the meaning of home and global to local concerns for population ageing. Drawing on international comparisons, this book offers a valuable resource for new research and important lessons for the future.