Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: This article extends existing sociological scholarship on doing and displaying family by developing the concept of documenting families. We suggest that documenting is conceptually rich insofar as it showcases the relationship, and tensions, between institutional practices and individual experiences of family display. Drawing on our research with men who became parents without partners, we argue that the process of documenting family is made especially evident in studies of what Finch originally referred to as 'non-conventional' family relationships. We explain that documenting sheds light not only on the official and unofficial means through which families are recognised on paper, but also on family practices as work - in this case paper-work - that involves negotiation between different social actors who are generally unequal in terms of their authority and agency to impose situational meaning.
Source: Sociology
Authors: Sophie Zadeh, Vasanti Jadva, Susan Golombok
Institutions: University College London, University of Cambridge
Language: English
Subfield: Demography
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,500
Funder: Wellcome Trust
OpenAlex ID: W4220904141