In studying contemporary transformations of social relations and family life, researchers and social theorists have been focused on the increased diversity of forms of bonding, coupling and other interpersonal connections. When single people are discussed, either it is to emphasize the disintegration of their ties and the crisis of the family, or their single life is considered as an identity choice. The aim of this text is to look at the experience of singleness not by choice among contemporary corporate employees in Poland and to try to set this experience against the background of a broader social reality, especially the reality of professional work. The text also examines the relationship between relational forms (including being single) and the social system in late capitalism. The experiences of people who are not single by choice are discussed and contrasting variants for people whose single situation is associated with low interpersonal skills and for those with an interactional proficiency are distinguished. In the conclusion, the authors are looking for patterns of connection between being unwillingly single and operating on the late capitalist labour market.

background

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Haven in a Heartless World

Single, but not by Choice – On Deprivation of Relationships among Polish Corporate Employees

Without consistent, long-term care, the human infant would not survive. In Western cultures, the family unit has traditionally been seen as the most advantageous and viable social context for meeting the biophysical and psychosocial needs of a young child. As a result, theorists and researchers have long been interested in the range of variability and consistency that may be found in both particular and universal family settings and the ultimate effect these characteristics have on human development. Moreover, there is growing interest, as well as growing concern, that there may be certain aspects of childrearing that are unique to, and dependent upon, the family as we have come to know it. Today, these are being more urgently examined in light of the rather dramatic social changes being experienced by families and other social institutions. It may be that resulting adaptations have mandated an increasing prominence in the supplementary parenting patterns described in the bulk of this volume.

Child Nurturance: Patterns of Supplementary Parenting

.................................................................................................................................................... ii Preface ...................................................................................................................................................... iii Table of

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"Living the dream" atop Whistler Mountain : the malaise of modernity and Vancouver's leisure culture

We are living in an era characterised by the repercussions of recession and austerity, and the fields of work and family are directly affected by historical changes, making the need for reformulating concepts used in the sociology of work and family quite apparent. In order to do so, this article proposes an approach inspired by Open Marxism and critical theory that will assess the contribution of specialised literature in the work–family articulation to advance original analyses and investigate relevant issues around social reproduction under capitalism. The tension between capitalism and contemporary forms of family will be framed through the concept of the dual nature of labour and family life, insofar as they entail both sensuous and abstract forms of human involvement – most notably abstract labour. Issues around the emotional patterns of family life and the mediation that families operate between ‘home’ and ‘work’ spheres will take centre stage. One of the main points is that the development of labo...

Critical Theory and the Work-Family Articulation

Objectives
To examine how firearms-related incidents are defined as social problems versus personal tragedies. This is achieved by examining a case of gun violence where the actors immediately involved are apparently blameless: child-involved accidental firearms deaths and injuries. Specifically, we examine changing narratives of these incidents from the mid-19th century to the present.

Methods
A database of 314 New York Times articles on child-involved accidental shootings from the mid-1800s to the present day was compiled and analyzed using Atlas.ti.

Results
Our content analysis shows that despite declining prevalence and coverage over time, these incidents were increasingly framed as social problems through narratives of criminalization and responsibilization. These discursive frameworks differ in how they allocate blame and advance appropriate social responses to child-involved shootings. First, “criminalization” involves a police response to both the child shooter and, especially after the 1911 promulgation of New York's Sullivan Act requiring a license for concealable firearms, to adult custodians. Second, “responsibilization” allocates responsibility for the proper management of guns to adults at home (since the 1970s) as well as to society at large (since the 1980s) within a discourse that frames child-involved accidental shootings as indicative of broader social disorder.

Conclusions
Narratives of child-involved shootings reflect a broader social transformation of accidents into public problems that occurred in the 20th century. As such, the results provide insight into both the contemporary gun debate and the moral valuation of children.

Haven in a Heartless World

Citations

Single, but not by Choice – On Deprivation of Relationships among Polish Corporate Employees

Child Nurturance: Patterns of Supplementary Parenting

"Living the dream" atop Whistler Mountain : the malaise of modernity and Vancouver's leisure culture

Critical Theory and the Work-Family Articulation

From Play to Peril: A Historical Examination of Media Coverage of Accidental Shootings Involving Children*

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