Working-class fathers and childcare

The economic and family contexts of fathering in the UK

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2172170
AutoresAlice Braun (0000-0002-5975-2122), Annette Braun, C Vincent (0000-0003-1284-1950), Stephen Ball (0000-0001-7446-4201), Stephen J Ball
Ano2011
Volume14
Fascículo1
Páginas19-37
Data de publicação2011-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCommunity Work & Family (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1366-8803 • E-ISSN: 1469-3615
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13668803.2010.506028
OpenAlexW2084664151
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas27
Referências citadas9

This paper reports on a UK-based study that explored the ways in which working-class families living in the inner city negotiate and resolve childcare and domestic responsibilities between mothers and fathers and how men balance employment and family demands. Drawing on interviews with 70 families with pre-school children, including interviews with 16 men, we explore how the respondents practice fathering roles in their particular economic, social and family contexts, contrasting a group of 'active fathers' with those we have termed 'background fathers'. The domestic arrangements for caring for young children identified in this study and an earlier study of middle-class families overwhelmingly follow traditional gendered divisions, irrespective of social class background. The pervasiveness of discourses that construe a 'good' family man as financially successful means that the men in this study, whose link to the labour market can be tenuous, are vulnerable to charges – by themselves and others – of not being a 'good' father. We suggest that beyond the provider discourse, there is a lack of alternatives to conceptualise possible understandings of being and doing fatherhood, which renders fathering an individualised practice, highly dependent on contextual factors

Class (philosophy · Developmental psychology · Negotiation · Political science · Social class · Sociology · Working class · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges · Gender Studies · Social Psychology