Situated Fathering: A Focus on Physical and Social Spaces - Softcover

Marsiglio, William; Roy, Kevin; Fox, Greer Litton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0742545695 ISBN 13: 9780742545694

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005

Synopsis

When men act as parents they do so in diverse physical and social spaces imbued with symbolic meaning. They father in the military overseas, on the farm, in dilapidated inner cities, immersed in ethnic neighborhoods, navigating idealized places of leisure where families go, as stepfathers in spaces where physical dimensions and family meanings intersect, as nonresident fathers managing less than ideal conditions, rolling across the interstate as long-haul truckers, playing catch alongside the house, managing precious family-time in prison work-release programs, as participants in community fatherhood initiatives, etc. Until now, family scholars had not explicitly theorized and focused on how physical space shapes fathers' lives. A distinct volume of theoretical and empirical research, Situated Fathering addresses this oversight by proposing a new framework for studying how various contingencies of physical space, in conjunction with social/symbolic issues, affect men's identities as fathers and their involvement with children. Consistent with public interest in men's efforts to 'be there' as providers and caregivers, this book explores issues associated with the barriers and supports to involvement that are part of the physical and social environment. Written largely for family scholars and students, it emphasizes a future-oriented perspective by outlining directions for theoretically guided research in specific, often gendered fathering sites.

About this title

About the Author

William Marsiglio is Professor of Sociology at the University of Florida. His recent books include: Stepdads: Stories of Love, Hope, and Repair, 2004. Kevin Roy is Assistant Professor of Family Studies at the University of Maryland. Greer Litton Fox is Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Tennessee in the Department of Child and Family Studies.

Review

Situated Fathering makes an outstanding contribution to how we understand fathers' lives in their many, varied contexts: physical, institutional, cultural, and social. A must read for serious students of fatherhood, researchers, and policy-makers. (Joseph H. Pleck, University of Illinois)

Focusing on the link between fathers' experiences and the social organization of space, Marsiglio, Roy, and Fox provide a powerful framework for understanding the social conditions that foster or undermine involved fathering. Situated Fathering highlights how men negotiate varieties of fatherhood in a range of often overlooked settings, from farms to inner cities to prisons and beyond. An important contribution that helps us see all fathers―and, indeed, all parents―in a new way. (Kathleen Gerson, New York University)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0742545695
• ISBN 13: 9780742545694
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336