Understanding the Family (Published in association with The Open University) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080397955X ISBN 13: 9780803979550

Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd, 1995

Synopsis

Often lauded as the foundation of society and a safe haven from the pressures of the outside world, the family can also harbor conflict, oppression, and destructive relationships. This work outlines the tensions that exist between the dominant assumptions of the state and society and the lived realities of everyday family life. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical perspectives from sociology, social policy, and psychology, this book critically examines the conceptions about the family that are embedded in social policy, law, and political discourse. Understanding the Family reveals that such beliefs fail to recognize a marked diversity of family forms in contemporary society, and also ignore the complex and myriad ways in which family life may be experienced. This introductory text provides students with an accessible, interdisciplinary account of how the family is constituted in public and private spheres, facilitating critical understanding of its place within contemporary society. "The book is not simply an edited collection, but an integrated set of teaching materials. The chapters are in dialogue with each other and are designed to be read sequentially. . . .It provides important guidance for the reader on the ways in which ′evidence′ is gathered and can be evaluated within the socail sciences. . . .Reproduced news items, comics and an activities section add interest, relevance, and humor." --Family Medicine "This is the sort of book that I wish had existed when I was asked to teach ′The Family′ at short notice some years ago. It is another of the excellent collections from the Open University and covers every important dimension in the study of families in their macro- and micro- contexts. . . . This is altogether an excellent collection for students of social policy, social care or-social work, covering as it does both subjective and objective features of family life and the logic of inequality within which they are embedded." --Child and Family Social Work

About this title

About the Authors

John Muncie is Emeritus Professor of Criminology at the Open University, UK. He is the author of Youth and Crime (5th edition, Sage, 2021), and he has published widely on issues in comparative youth justice and children’s rights, including the co-edited companion volumes Youth Crime and Justice and Comparative Youth Justice (Sage, 2006). He has produced numerous Open University texts and readers, including Crime: Local and Global (Willan, 2010), Criminal Justice: Local and Global (Willan, 2010), The Problem of Crime (2nd edition, Sage, 2001), Crime Prevention and Community Safety (Sage, 2001) and Imprisonment: European Perspectives (Harvester, 1991). He has also contributed nine volumes to the The Sage Library of Criminology (Sage, 2007–2009). He is co-editor of the Sage journal Youth Justice: An International Journal.

Margaret Wetherell is Professor of Social Psychology at the Open University, UK and Director of the Economic and Social Research Council Programme on Identities and Social Action.

Edition details

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080397955X
• ISBN 13: 9780803979550
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Muncie John, Wetherell Margaret, Dallos Rudi, Cochrane Allan Douglas