The ‘involved’ father, who is emotionally and economically engaged, has become a recognisable ideal in many Western societies. Policy changes have to varying degrees endorsed practices of involvement especially around the time of birth and during the early weeks and months of a child’s life. Discursive changes are discernible too as men engage a language of caring, bonding and emotional, intimate connection through ‘being there’ as a father. And research on the everyday practices of fathers also indicates some degree of change. But how far are these shifts indicative of a new type of fatherhood? In this article we document key research findings, assess their significance and most importantly assess what is the cumulative effect of these changes. We conclude that while contemporary practices of fathering must be understood and explained within broader cultural and economic milieu, the multiplicity of shifts does indeed infer a new durability.
This paper examines how pa e ti g p a ti es popula l lassed as good are related to economic disadvantage, education, and time pressure. Using the 2012 UK Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE) survey we argue that parenting practices such as reading, playing games and eating meals together are not absent among those who are less well educated, have lower incomes, or are more deprived of socially accepted necessities: therefore, political lai s of idesp ead poo pa e ti g a e ispla ed. Further, we suggest that the dominant trope of poor people being poor at parenting may arise because the activities of the most educationally advantaged parentswho do look different to the majorityare accepted as the benchmark against whom others are assessed. This leads us to suggest that the renewed interest in sociological research on elites should be extended to family life in order that the exceptionality of the most privileged is recognised and analysed.
It is commonly reported that fathers in Britain work longer hours than non-fathers. This statistic is frequently used as supporting evidence for the argument that the role of fathers within families remains primarily concerned with financial provisioning. In this paper it is shown, through regression models, that once other factors are taken into account the significance of fatherhood in relation to hours of paid work disappears. This highlights fatherhood as a period in the life course which often coincides with longer working hours but challenges the assumption of a causal relationship.
Fathering is alleged to have undergone dramatic changes in recent decades with proclamations of ‘new fathering’ dominating the literature. However, it is not always obvious what this new and ‘involved’ fathering entails. This paper aims to bring greater clarity to the nebulous concept of the involved father. While acknowledging the recession of traditional fatherhood centred on breadwinning, the argument looks beyond this oft-identified process. Instead the focus is on elucidating the elements viewed as the essential components of the father-child relationship. For the fathers in this study, the concept of intimacy seems to encapsulate ideas about good fathering. The idea of ‘intimate fathering’ encompasses, but goes beyond an emotional connection, and prioritises the quality of the parent-child relationship. This definition has implications for the analysis and understanding of fathering behaviour. In particular, such intimacy may be disassociated from a time commitment.
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