In the twenty-first century, fatherhood is shifting from simply being a sidekick in the parental team to taking center stage with new expectations of involvement and caretaking. The social expectations of fathers start even before the children are born. Mr. Mom is now displaced with fathers who don't think of themselves as babysitting their own children, but as central decision makers, along with mothers, as parents. Deconstructing Dads: Changing Images of Fathers in Popular Culture is an interdisciplinary edited collection of essays authored by prominent scholars in the fields of media, sociology, and cultural studies who address how media represent the image of the father in popular culture. This collection explores the history of representation of fathers like the "bumbling dad" to question and challenge how far popular culture has come in its representation of paternal figures. Each chapter of this book focuses on a different aspect of media, including how advertising creates expectations of play and father, crime shows and the new hero father, and men as paternal figures in horror films. The book also explores changing definitions of fatherhood by looking at such subjects as how the media represents sperm donation as complicating the definition of father and how specific groups have been represented as fathers, including gay men as dads and Latino fathers in film. This collection examines the media's depiction of the "good" father to study how it both challenges and reshapes the ways in which we think of family, masculinity, and gender roles.

It is an excellent short introduction to issues of time, suitable for advanced undergraduate or graduate research methods course focusing on experimental and quasi-experimental designs. . . . An interesting introduction to the issues as seen by experimental social psychologists. . . . I'd recommend the book to any sociologists struggling with time-dependency issues. --Contemporary Sociology "This slim volume is rich in ideas which can be employed to clarify implicit and explicit theorising about time in sociological research methods. Similarly, used creatively and imaginatively, some of its considerations of experimental design and practice might be usefully transposed into the design and conduct of social surveys and field research." --The Journal of the British Sociological Association On Time and Method provides the first systematic, detailed examination of the impact of time on research methods. This original volume analyzes all the ways temporal factors can effect research results and interpretations, and explains how research can be strengthened by paying attention to such factors. This unique work first provides a theoretical base, laying out the interplay of temporal issues on the strategic, design, and operational levels of research. It then provides extended examples of the ways such factors operate in real-world research, and their consequences for such research programs. It closes with a collection of proven techniques and approaches which researchers can use to remove, reduce, or compensate for temporal effects. This cogent work provides valuable insights for all social scientists, and is essential reading for students of research methods.

It is an excellent short introduction to issues of time, suitable for advanced undergraduate or graduate research methods course focusing on experimental and quasi-experimental designs. . . . An interesting introduction to the issues as seen by experimental social psychologists. . . . I'd recommend the book to any sociologists struggling with time-dependency issues. --Contemporary Sociology "This slim volume is rich in ideas which can be employed to clarify implicit and explicit theorising about time in sociological research methods. Similarly, used creatively and imaginatively, some of its considerations of experimental design and practice might be usefully transposed into the design and conduct of social surveys and field research." --The Journal of the British Sociological Association On Time and Method provides the first systematic, detailed examination of the impact of time on research methods. This original volume analyzes all the ways temporal factors can effect research results and interpretations, and explains how research can be strengthened by paying attention to such factors. This unique work first provides a theoretical base, laying out the interplay of temporal issues on the strategic, design, and operational levels of research. It then provides extended examples of the ways such factors operate in real-world research, and their consequences for such research programs. It closes with a collection of proven techniques and approaches which researchers can use to remove, reduce, or compensate for temporal effects. This cogent work provides valuable insights for all social scientists, and is essential reading for students of research methods.