Marina A. Adler - Böcker

With a focus on nine different national contexts, this book explores contemporary family diversity. With attention to the different welfare states and cultures of care in each setting, it problematizes the pre-eminence of research and policy centered on heteronormative families, showing the extent to which family diversity exists cross-nationally in relation to different gendered and "family-friendly" policies. Considering variations in family forms, including differences in the number and marital status of parents, their gender, sexual orientation and biological relationship to the children (adoption), multicultural families, and families created by technological assistance or surrogacy, it presents demographic information, alongside quantitative and qualitative research, across a number of advanced countries. A contribution to our understanding of the diversity of family forms, how diversity is lived in families, and what family diversity means in various international policy contexts. The Changing Faces of Families will appeal to scholars with interests in the sociology of the family.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.

With a focus on nine different national contexts, this book explores contemporary family diversity. With attention to the different welfare states and cultures of care in each setting, it problematizes the pre-eminence of research and policy centered on heteronormative families, showing the extent to which family diversity exists cross-nationally in relation to different gendered and "family-friendly" policies. Considering variations in family forms, including differences in the number and marital status of parents, their gender, sexual orientation and biological relationship to the children (adoption), multicultural families, and families created by technological assistance or surrogacy, it presents demographic information, alongside quantitative and qualitative research, across a number of advanced countries. A contribution to our understanding of the diversity of family forms, how diversity is lived in families, and what family diversity means in various international policy contexts. The Changing Faces of Families will appeal to scholars with interests in the sociology of the family.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.

This book examines current research on key issues widely debated in contemporary family sociology. Contributors present emerging perspectives on the dynamics and challenges related to changing family forms and increasing family diversity in various countries or regions. The analyses reveal the multidimensional nature of living arrangements, parenting, and policies in a context of long-term social changes.Chapters provide empirical and theoretical insights into issues faced by families today, including custody arrangements for post-separation parenting, the pathways to parenthood for LGBTQ+ families, and the struggles of transnational and migrating families. In addition, the book evaluates global declining marriage rates, as well as child and elder care policies in ageing populations. The contributors advocate for research and policy developments to better reflect the move away from traditional societal frameworks, and emphasize the importance of contextual factors, such as identity, culture and policy regimes in shaping the lived experience of doing family.The Sociology of Families is an essential resource for scholars and students in the social sciences, particularly those interested in families and the sociology of gender. Professionals and policymakers specialising in social care, social work and family policy will also benefit from the book’s valuable insights.

Fatherhood is in transition and being challenged by often contradictory forces: societal mandates to be both an active father and provider, men's own wish to be more involved with their children, and the institutional arrangements in which fathers work and live. This book explores these phenomena in the context of cross-national policies and their relation to the daily childcare practices of fathers. It presents the current state of knowledge on father involvement with young children in six countries from different welfare state regimes with unique policies related to parenting in general and fathers in particular: Finland, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, the UK and the USA.