The politics of concepts: family and its (putative) replacements
The politics of concepts: family and its (putative) replacements
The central concern of this paper is that there has been a move within British sociology to subsume (or sometimes, even replace) the concept of ‘family’ within ideas about personal life, intimacy and kinship. It calls attention to what will be lost sight of by this conceptual move: an understanding of the collective whole beyond the aggregation of individuals; the creation of lacunae that will be (partially) filled by other disciplines; and engagement with policy developments and professional practices that focus on ‘family’ as a core, institutionalised, idea. While repudiating the necessity (and indeed, pointing out the dangers) of providing any definitive answer to definitions of ‘family’, the paper calls for critical reflection on the implications of these conceptual moves.
family, family policy, family sociology, intimacy, kinship, personal life
730-746
Edwards, Rosalind
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Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
a11a809a-a923-4c23-83da-f4ce7e3f4498
Gillies, Val
9c9bcf7c-be6d-4fce-bc64-4df1c1953db1
December 2012
Edwards, Rosalind
e43912c0-f149-4457-81a9-9c4e00a4bb42
Ribbens McCarthy, Jane
a11a809a-a923-4c23-83da-f4ce7e3f4498
Gillies, Val
9c9bcf7c-be6d-4fce-bc64-4df1c1953db1
Edwards, Rosalind, Ribbens McCarthy, Jane and Gillies, Val
(2012)
The politics of concepts: family and its (putative) replacements.
British Journal of Sociology, 63 (4), .
(doi:10.1111/j.1468-4446.2012.01434.x).
Abstract
The central concern of this paper is that there has been a move within British sociology to subsume (or sometimes, even replace) the concept of ‘family’ within ideas about personal life, intimacy and kinship. It calls attention to what will be lost sight of by this conceptual move: an understanding of the collective whole beyond the aggregation of individuals; the creation of lacunae that will be (partially) filled by other disciplines; and engagement with policy developments and professional practices that focus on ‘family’ as a core, institutionalised, idea. While repudiating the necessity (and indeed, pointing out the dangers) of providing any definitive answer to definitions of ‘family’, the paper calls for critical reflection on the implications of these conceptual moves.
Text
Politics_of_concepts_BJS_final.pdf
- Author's Original
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 14 December 2012
Published date: December 2012
Keywords:
family, family policy, family sociology, intimacy, kinship, personal life
Organisations:
Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 336914
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/336914
ISSN: 0007-1315
PURE UUID: c6559ee5-0d8e-4ac0-867e-1b3e52a0b1ae
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Date deposited: 11 Apr 2012 13:10
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:37
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Contributors
Author:
Jane Ribbens McCarthy
Author:
Val Gillies
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