Synopses & Reviews
Acknowledging the increasing diversity and complexity of families, this innovative book proposes a new conceptual framework for understanding families and other relationships that both challenges and attempts to reconcile traditional and contemporary approaches. Using the notion of 'boundaries', the book shifts thinking from 'families as entities' to 'families as relationship processes'. Emphasising the processes that underlie boundary construction and reconstruction suggests that the key to understanding family life is the process of relationship formation. The ideas of entity, boundary, margins and hybridity provide a framework for understanding the diverse, and often contradictory, ways in which families contribute to society. Families in society makes a significant contribution to the academic literature on families and is essential reading for social science students, social researchers, policy makers and practitioners interested in families and relationships.
Review
Informed by a stimulating range of recent research on family relationships, this important book explores the value of boundary-based metaphors to reveal families as relationship processes rather than entities. It deserves to be widely read. John Rodger, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Paisley, UK
Review
This book would make fascinating reading for all concerned with families, especially those working in the human services and social policy fields. Family Matters
Review
... a light read on a range of topics and of interest to those considering contemporary relationships in general. SRA News
Synopsis
Families and relationships are increasingly diverse and complex and also remain high on the political agenda. This book uses a new concept of boundaries to offer a new theoretical take on the changing nature of families. It provides a way forward for the reconciliation of traditional and contemporary thinking on the construction of families. The book shifts thinking from 'families as entities' to 'families as relationship processes'.
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
The changing nature of families, their enduring and multi-faceted significance in society, and their value as a focus for the exploration of social change have ensured that families have remained a prominent focus of academic enquiry. Acknowledging the increasing diversity and complexity of families, this innovative book proposes a new conceptual framework for understanding families and other relationships that both challenges and attempts to reconcile traditional and contemporary approaches.
About the Author
Linda McKie, Professor of Sociology, Glasgow Caledonian University and Sarah Cunningham-Burley, Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, The University of Edinburgh