This book presents a new approach to understanding contemporary personal life, taking account of how people build their lives through a bricolage of 'tradition' and 'modern'. The authors examine how tradition is used and adapted, invented and re-invented; how meaning can leak from past to present; the ways in which people's agencies differ as they make decisions; and the process of bricolage in making new arrangements. These themes are illustrated through a variety of case studies, ranging from personal life in the 1950s, young women and marriage, the rise of cohabitation, female name change, living apart together, and creating weddings. Centrally the authors emphasise the re-traditionalisation involved in de-traditionalisation and the connectedness involved in individualised processes of relationship change. Reinventing Couples will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including sociology, social work and social policy.

While the family and its role continues to be a key topic in social and government policy, much of the literature is concerned with describing the dramatic changes that are taking place. By contrast, Analysing Families directly addresses the social processes responsible for these changes - how social policy interacts with what families actually do. Topics covered include:
* the relationship between morality and rationality in the family context
* the variety of contemporary family forms
* the purposes and assumptions of government interventions in family life
* the relationship between different welfare states and different ideas about motherhood
*' Third Way' thinking on families
* divorce and post-divorce arrangements
* lone parenthood and step-parenting
* the decision to have children
* the economic approach to understanding family process
* the legitimacy of state intervention in family life.
With contributions from the UK, and North America, Analysing Families provides the framework within which to understand an increasingly important element in social policy.

While the family and its role continues to be a key topic in social and government policy, much of the literature is concerned with describing the dramatic changes that are taking place. By contrast, Analysing Families directly addresses the social processes responsible for these changes - how social policy interacts with what families actually do. Topics covered include:
* the relationship between morality and rationality in the family context
* the variety of contemporary family forms
* the purposes and assumptions of government interventions in family life
* the relationship between different welfare states and different ideas about motherhood
* 'Third Way' thinking on families
* divorce and post-divorce arrangements
* lone parenthood and step-parenting
* the decision to have children
* the economic approach to understanding family process
* the legitimacy of state intervention in family life.
With contributions from the UK, and North America, Analysing Families provides the framework within which to understand an increasingly important element in social policy.

Contents:
Part I. Introduction
1. Introduction: Theorising Comparative Gender Inequality Simon Duncan
Part II. Gender Divisions of Labour - Paid and Unpaid Work
2. Paid Work: Participation, Inclusion and Liberation Gunnel Forsberg, Lena Gonäs and Diane Perrons
3. Households and Families - Changing Living Arrangements and Gender Relations Montserrat Solsona and Maria-Jose Gonzalez-Lopez
4. Reconciling Divisions of Labour Eileen Drew
Part III. Gender Divisions of Power - Citizenship, Rights and Control
5. Gender and European Welfare States: Contexts, Structure and Agency Henrik Bang, Per Jensen and Birgit Pfau-Effinger
6. Gender, Migration, and Social Inequalities: the Dilemmas of European Citizenship Marina Calloni and Helma Lutz
7. Male Violence and Control: Constructing a Comparative European Perspective Carol Hagemann-White
Part IV. Gendered Understandings: Cultures and Values
8. Challenging and Negotiating the Myths: Gender Divisions in the Situation Comedy Lisa Tsaliki
9. Living Through the Myths: Gender, Values, Attitudes and Practices Rosemarie Sackmann
Conclusion
10. Gender Cultures and Social Change in the European Context Birgit Pfau-Effinger

Single mothers caring for dependent children are an important and increasing population in industrialized countries. In some, single mothers are seen primarily as mothers and few have paid work; in others, they are regarded as workers and most have paid work; and sometimes they are seen as an uneasy combination of the two with varying proportions taking up paid work. This edited collection explores these variations, focusing on the interaction between dominant discourses around single motherhood, state policies towards single mothers, the structure of the labour market at national and local levels, and neighbourhood supports and constraints.

This book presents a new approach to understanding contemporary personal life, taking account of how people build their lives through a bricolage of 'tradition' and 'modern'. The authors examine how tradition is used and adapted, invented and re-invented; how meaning can leak from past to present; the ways in which people's agencies differ as they make decisions; and the process of bricolage in making new arrangements. These themes are illustrated through a variety of case studies, ranging from personal life in the 1950s, young women and marriage, the rise of cohabitation, female name change, living apart together, and creating weddings. Centrally the authors emphasise the re-traditionalisation involved in de-traditionalisation and the connectedness involved in individualised processes of relationship change. Reinventing Couples will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including sociology, social work and social policy.

Unmarried heterosexual cohabitation is rapidly increasing in Britain and over a quarter of children are now born to unmarried cohabiting parents. This is not just an important change in the way we live in modern Britain; it is also a political and theoretical marker. Some commentators see cohabitation as evidence of selfish individualism and the breakdown of the family, while others see it as just a less institutionalised way in which people express commitment and build their families. Politically, 'stable' families are seen as crucial - but does stability simply mean marriage? At present the law in Britain retains important distinctions in the way it treats cohabiting and married families and this can have deleterious effects on the welfare of children and partners on cohabitation breakdown or death of a partner. Should the law be changed to reflect this changing social reality? Or should it - can it - be used to direct these changes? Using findings from their recent Nuffield Foundation funded study, which combines nationally representative data with in-depth qualitative work, the authors examine public attitudes about cohabitation and marriage, provide an analysis of who cohabits and who marries, and investigate the extent and nature of the 'common law marriage myth' (the false belief that cohabitants have similar legal rights to married couples). They then explore why people cohabit rather than marry, what the nature of their commitment is to one another and chart public attitudes to legal change. In the light of this evidence, the book then evaluates different options for legal reform.