27 March 2012
16 January 2012
21 September 2011
12 September 2011 (All day) - 11 September 2013 (All day)
Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance
The Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance (CCIG) is a University designated Centre of Research Excellence
Families and Relationships
The Families and Relationships interdisciplinary research programme takes a critical constructionist approach to these important areas of social life, and their intersections with themes of citizenship, identities and governance.
By explicitly highlighting ‘relationships’ alongside ‘families’, the programme is able to consider how far, and in what circumstances, personal relationships may or may not fall within the discursive and theoretical remit of ‘families’. The programme thus problematises notions of families, personal relationships, and households, whilst also recognising the continuing significance of the language of family at political, policy and personal levels. Indeed, part of the long-standing academic interest in these issues arises from their positioning in the duality of individuality and social structure.
The programme's overall focus thus extends to: personal relationships, inter-subjectivity, relatedness, autonomy and connectedness; emotion, memory and representations; power, control and resources; legislation, policy making and welfare practice. Areas of current interest include: parenting; kinship; the workings of households (with particular reference to material culture and resources); bereavement, loss and change; families, popular culture, welfare, professions and policies; families in historic, global, material, and social contexts; links and tensions with aspects of feminist theoretical and methodological debates.
Programme Director: Dr Jane McCarthy
Co-Director: Dr Jacqui Gabb
Ongoing Project
Family Troubles? Exploring changes and challenges in the family lives of children and young people
Current Projects
Enduring love?
The Enduring Love? research project is an exciting project that aims to understand more about couples who stay together. The project started in September 2011 and is concerned with what helps people sustain relationships and how cultural myths, such as finding ‘the one’ and living ‘happily-ever-after’, are understood and reconciled by adult couples whose own relationships may fall short of these romantic ideals.
Gender and Intra-Household Entitlements. A Cross-National Longitudinal Analysis (GenIX)
The Families and Relationships Research Programme is currently building collaboration with Professor Sue Himmelweit (Professor of Economics, OU) who leads the GenIX Project. This two-year ESRC-funded research project aims to understand the factors that influence the entitlements of individuals to household resources.