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A Hard Time to Be a Father?: Reassessing the Relationship Between Law, Policy, and Family (Practices)
Author(s) -
Collier Richard
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of law and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.263
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1467-6478
pISSN - 0263-323X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6478.00201
Subject(s) - underpinning , sociology , government (linguistics) , strict constructionism , family law , work (physics) , law , social constructionism , balance (ability) , focus (optics) , gender studies , political science , social science , psychology , engineering , mechanical engineering , philosophy , linguistics , civil engineering , physics , optics , neuroscience
This article seeks to unpack the way in which a constellation of ideas around what it means to speak of ‘good fatherhood’ has come to inform a series of debates, after the election of the New Labour government in 1997, around the content and contours of paternal responsibility. Via a focus on family law and recent developments around the idea of ‘work‐life’ balance, it discusses the concepts underpinning present debates. In questioning the still‐powerful (if frequently unspoken) influence of social constructionist ideas of sex/gender, it explores and question how men's ‘family practices’ have been understood.