The Transformation of Parents' Values and Aspirations for Their Children

A Retrospective Qualitative Longitudinal Analysis of Changing Cultural Configurations

Bibliographic Data

ID2392297
AuthorsJane Gray (0000-0001-8131-9432, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, corresponding author), Ruth Geraghty (0000-0001-9155-1585, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland)
Year2023
Volume28
Issue4
Pages1088-1109
Publication date2023-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Research Online (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1360-7804 • E-ISSN: 1360-7804
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/13607804221137600
OpenAlexW4311843395
LanguageEN
References cited54

This article contributes to new scholarship on family change as bricolage and institutional layering. Focusing on the classic topic of parental values and aspirations for their children, we used a retrospective qualitative longitudinal analysis to trace the evolution of four overlapping cultural configurations across the 20th century: (1) standing back and not interfering, (2) cultivating achievement, (3) encouraging positive relationships, and (4) promoting happiness and self-fulfilment. We show that there was a directional change in the emphases and inflections placed on these configurations, and in the moral ambivalence that parents displayed as they reconciled them in their narratives. Meanings centred on autonomy and cultivation were layered onto relatedness across changing social contexts. Engaging with recent debates on the value of qualitative interviews, our analysis demonstrates how qualitative longitudinal research can provide rigorous analysis of long-term cultural change

Ambivalence · Autonomy · Happiness · Longitudinal study · Narrative · Political science · Qualitative research · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Capital and Networks · Social Psychology