Family policy
Fathers, Families and Relationships
Researching Everyday Lives
Covering a wide range of subjects from non-resident fathers to father engagement in child protection, this major contribution to the field offers unique insights into how to research fathers and fatherhood in contemporary society.
Parenting the Crisis
The Cultural Politics of Parent-Blame
This book examines how pathologising ideas of failing, chaotic and dysfunctional families create a powerful consensus that Britain is in the grip of a ‘parent crisis’ and are used to justify increasingly punitive state policies.
Families and Poverty
Everyday Life on a Low Income
The central interest of this innovative book is the role and significance of family in a context of poverty and low-income. Based on a micro-level study carried out in 2011 and 2012 with 51 families in Northern Ireland, it offers new empirical evidence and a theorisation of the relationship between family life and poverty.
Families in society
Boundaries and relationships
The enduring and multi-faceted significance of families in society, and their value as a focus for the exploration of social change have ensured that families remain a prominent focus of academic enquiry. This book proposes a new conceptual framework that both challenges and attempts to reconcile traditional and contemporary approaches.
Contemporary Grandparenting
Changing Family Relationships in Global Contexts
This is the first book to take a sociological approach to grandparenting across diverse country contexts and combines new theorising with up-to-date empirical findings to document the changing nature of grandparenting across global contexts.
The Dynamics of Young Fatherhood
Understanding the Parenting Journeys and Support Needs of Young Fathers
Around 1 in 10 children born in the UK are fathered by men under the age of 25, and this book tackles the overlooked views and needs of these young fathers. Challenging negative popular and media discourses, this book showcases future policy and practice directions designed to nurture the potential of these young men and their children.
Parental Leave and Beyond
Recent International Developments, Current Issues and Future Directions
This volume provides an international perspective on parental leave policies in different countries, goes beyond this to examine a range of issues in depth, and aims to stimulate thinking about possible futures and how policy might underpin them.
The Well-Being of Children in the UK
This is the classic assessment of the state of child well-being in the UK. This fourth edition has been updated to review the latest evidence, including the impact of the economic crisis and austerity measures since 2008. An essential resource.
Seven years in the lives of British families
Evidence on the dynamics of social change from the British Household Panel Survey
This ground-breaking study provides important new insights into the dynamics of Britain's social and economic life. A total of 10,000 adults (from 5,500 households) were interviewed every year between 1991 and 1997, providing a unique picture of the processes and outcomes of important events in their lives.
Family policy paradoxes
Gender equality and labour market regulation in Sweden, 1930-2010
This book looks at political attempts to create a 'modern family' and the aspiration to regulate the family and establish gender equality, examining the regulation of the family in Sweden between 1930 and today.
The Politics of Children's Services Reform
Re-examining Two Decades of Policy Change
Drawing on access to prominent policy makers, Purcell examines the origins and impact of children’s services reform under recent Labour and Conservative-led governments, including Labour’s Every Child Matters programme and the Munro Review. He also reassesses the impact of high-profile child abuse cases, including Victoria Climbié and Baby P.
Designing Parental Leave Policy
The Norway Model and the Changing Face of Fatherhood
This compelling book examines parental leave policies in Nordic countries, looking at how these laws encourage men towards life courses with greater care responsibilities. It considers the impact that these policies have had on gender equality and how they have led to a re-gendering of men by promoting ‘caring masculinities’.