Interdependencies, values and the reshaping of difference

Gender and Generation at the Birth of Twentieth-Century Modernity

Bibliographic Data

ID2139135
AuthorsSusan Irwin (0000-0001-9591-147X, corresponding author), Sarah Irwin (0000-0003-2930-3569)
Year2003
Volume54
Issue4
Pages565-584
Publication date2003-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-4446.2003.00565.x
PMID14660259
OpenAlexW4254721954
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited38

The paper explores the mutuality of values, claims and social relations in the process of social change. Values are not separable from social relations but are embedded in the shaping and reshaping of social difference and interdependence. The paper focuses on developments around the turn of the twentieth century, and analyses changes in the relative social positioning of children and adults, and women and men, shifting patterns of interdependence, and linked values and ideas about difference. The reconfiguring of generational and gender relations was integral to the first fertility decline, to transformation in family life and societal divisions of labour, and to the embedding of particular values and claims regarding gendered difference, identities and gender appropriate roles. Analysis of these developments reveals the mutuality of 'cultural' and 'material' processes and holds lessons for interpreting social change today

Economic growth · Economics · Gender relations · Interdependence · Modernity · Political science · Positive economics · Social change · Social relation · Social science · Social transformation · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies