BSA/CCIG Rethinking Concepts: Families, Intimacies and Personal Relationships

This colloquium, organized by the BSA Families and Relationships Study Group, aims to encourage critical dialogue on the value of prominent concepts used in the study of contemporary living, notably families, intimacies and personal relationships.

There is a wealth of empirical studies on household trends and people’s experiences of living together and apart–together in the UK. Critical engagements have moved away from supposed crises in 'the family' or decline in commitment, proposing new ways of understanding the connections and practices that constitute relationality in personal, intimate and family contexts. We want to interrogate how conceptual frameworks have kept up with contemporary living. How do the prominent concepts of families, intimacies and personal relationships work for us? Do they enhance or restrain our capacity to know and make sense of everyday relation experience?The colloquium will feature keynote presentations from:

• Dr Val Gillies, Families and Social Capital Research Group, London South Bank University
• Prof Lynn Jamieson, Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, University of Edinburgh
• Prof David Morgan, School of Social Relations, Keele University
• Prof Carol Smart, Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life, University of Manchester

These presentations and pre-circulated position papers will lead into structured group discussion. The event aims to provide a dialogic environment to allow us to advance our thinking.

For more information about this event, please contact the co-convenors, Dr Jacqui Gabb and Prof Elizabeth Silva.