Making Men into Fathers: Men, Masculinities and the Social Politics of Fatherhood

Making Men into Fathers: Men, Masculinities and the Social Politics of Fatherhood

by Barbara Hobson (Editor)

Synopsis

Fatherhood is on the political agenda in many countries, often cast in terms of crisis. One side of the policy debate focuses on fathers as deadbeat dads who do not provide financial support and care for their children. The other revolves around making men into active and engaged fathers. However, these policies are often at odds with the employers' reluctance to accommodate work schedules to fathers' needs. In Making Men into Fathers, prominent scholars in gender studies and the critical studies of men consider how varied institutional settings and policy logics around cash and care contour the possibilities and constraints for new models of fatherhood, determining the choices open to men. From different historical and societal perspectives, the authors provide insights into the studies of men as gendered subjects, including the role of transnational and global issues of fatherhood, and the emergence of men's movements, contesting and reimaging fatherhood.

$38.11

Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 340
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 10 Jan 2002

ISBN 10: 0521006120
ISBN 13: 9780521006125

Media Reviews
'It does ... make an important contribution and will be a continuing asset. The paperback edition also has a wonderful cover picture. This is a photograph from a Swedish campaign promoting the new father in the 1970s. It shows a well-known weightlifter holding a baby. The weightlifter is smiling hesitantly, as if he had just discovered a new pleasure but was not sure if it was allowed. The baby is looking quite sceptical. Perhaps they are both right.' International Sociology
Author Bio
Barbara Hobson is a Professor of Sociology and holds a chair in Sociology and Gender Studies at Stockholm University. She is a director of the Advanced Research School in Comparative Gender Studies, a program for international research exchange and advanced doctoral studies. Hobson is both the founding and current editor of Social Politics: International Studies of Gender, State, and Society and is the Vice President of the Research Committee on Poverty, Social Welfare, and Social Policy (RC 19 of the International Sociological Association She has published numerous articles on gender and welfare states on the themes of gender and citizenship, including women agency and welfare state formation, solo mothers, and women economic dependency in the family. Her current research and publications address (1) gender and economic citizenship within the framework of the European Union; and (2) social movements in trans-national policy arena. Her book publications include an edited collection, Gender and Citizenship in Transition and a coedited collection, Contested Concepts: Gender and Social Politics. The Fatherhood project, from which Making Men into Fathers emerged, was one of several international projects from an extensive research program grant, which was awarded to Barbara Hobson from the Centennial Fund of the Bank of Sweden. Another book from the project, Recognition Struggles and Social Movements: Contested Identities, Agency and Power, was published in 2003.