‘I Know we Can’t be a Family, but as Close as You Can Get’: Displaying Families within an Institutional Context
01 Jan 2011-pp 175-194
TL;DR: Weeks et al. as discussed by the authors used the plural term "family" in order to reflect diversity in the meaning of the word 'family' and to consider what is meant by this dynamic and complex term.
Abstract: Despite often expressed concerns over its apparent demise, the idea (or ideal) of ‘the family’ continues to exert a powerful presence within a range of contexts (McKie et al. 2005). As Weeks puts it:
Family is a powerful and pervasive word in our culture, embracing a variety of social, cultural, economic and symbolic meanings; but traditionally it is seen as the very foundation of society. It is also a deeply ambiguous and contested term in the contemporary world, the subject of continual polemics, anxiety, and political concern about the ‘crisis of the family’. (Weeks et al. 2001: 9)
We of course need to be wary about referring to ‘the family’ in the singular; Gittins (1993) suggests using the plural term ‘families’ in order to reflect its variety. Whilst this usefully acknowledges diversity, it is also important to consider what is meant by this dynamic and complex term ‘family’. Despite recent critiques of the conventional family, there are still collective views of what families should look like that continue to dominate in many ways today:
An ideology provides collective definitions of what a ‘normal’ family is thought to be, what is a ‘proper’ marriage, and what it means to be a ‘good mother’ or a ‘good father’. Family ideologies are held out as ideal ways of living. (Cheal 2002: 72)
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the ways in which this can develop and benefit practice in residential care and explore the way in which some children and young people use the family metaphor to express their experience.
Abstract: Residential care has had a poor reputation. There are concerns about the abuse of children in care, and evidence of poor outcomes and poor practice. In this context, residential care is often compared in a negative way to family placements. On the other hand, residential care can also provide a positive experience for some children and young people. Residential care has increasingly been contrasted with family placements, and yet children and young people describe their positive experiences in residential care as like being in a family, and refer to care staff using kin terms, such as ‘dad’ or ‘sister’. With the growing diversity of families in Western society, there have been significant developments in sociological theories of families and these highlight the importance of family practices and displaying family. New kinship studies in anthropology have raised questions about the nature of the family. Research on children’s conceptualisation of family has begun to identify features of ‘family-like’ relationships. These theories will be discussed in relation to the ambivalence about residential care, current thinking about residential child care and, importantly, the way in which some children and young people use the family metaphor to express their experience. The paper will explore the ways in which this can develop and benefit practice in residential care.
61 citations
TL;DR: The study of the relationships that develop around and through food interactions and rituals can be traced to sociological and geographical analysis of food and food practices as discussed by the authors, in particular the study of food interaction and rituals.
Abstract: Food and food practices lend themselves to sociological and geographical analysis. In particular the study of the relationships that develop around and through food interactions and rituals can bri...
52 citations
TL;DR: This paper provided an analysis of food practices in residential care to explore the atypical nature of children's homes as a three-fold space that combines characteristics of "home", "institution" and "workplace".
Abstract: Using an ethnographic approach, we provide an analysis of food practices in residential care to explore the atypical nature of children's homes as a three-fold space that combines characteristics of ‘home’, ‘institution’, and ‘workplace’. Residential staff invested considerable effort into recreating a ‘family-like’ home but the practices and ideals they drew on could be interpreted and experienced in different ways. We demonstrate the difficulty of delineating between ‘homely’, ‘institutional’, or work oriented practices. While care workers tried to juggle conflicting demands in child-centred ways, the spaces they created could at times be experienced as constraining by the children and as inhibiting a sense of belonging.
46 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the family relationships affected by imprisonment are not only highly individual, but also actively constructed through embodied displays of care and commitment, and that we must guard against privileging family displays that fit most comfortably within a white, middle-class framework.
Abstract: For many families affected by imprisonment, the prison can become a central and damaging force in their lives. Yet, to fully understand the impact of imprisonment upon families, there is a need for greater critical engagement with the concept of the family, and how this is defined and operationalised. Utilising Finch’s theory of family practices, this article will argue that the family relationships affected by imprisonment are not only highly individual, but also actively constructed through embodied displays of care and commitment. However, we must guard against privileging family displays that fit most comfortably within a white, middle-class framework, and ensure that the voices of all families affected by imprisonment are heard in the growing conversations about their needs. Key words: families affected by imprisonment, family practices.
38 citations
Dissertation•
01 Oct 2012
TL;DR: The authors argue that the three previously identified "authorities" over death and dying of religion/tradition, professional/expert, and individual/self do not fully account for mourners' experiences of funerals.
Abstract: This thesis documents mourners’ experiences of funerals in contemporary Britain, and considers the implications of these for an understanding of funerals’ social significance. It represents the first time that experiences of these people, who attend funerals but do not contribute to their planning, have been taken into account in an analysis of funerals in contemporary Britain. The data on which the thesis draws have been generated in collaboration with the Mass-Observation Project, a long-running, large-scale qualitative writing project based at the University of Sussex. Participants in the project are self-identified ‘ordinary people’ who were asked to write in detail about the most recent funeral they had been to, as well as the best and worst they had ever attended. These data were analysed thematically. The thesis argues that the three previously identified ‘authorities’ over death and dying of religion/tradition, professional/expert, and individual/self do not fully account for mourners’ experiences of funerals. By examining the ‘doing’ and ‘displaying’ of family at funerals, the thesis demonstrates that for mourners, the family constitutes a further authority over the funeral. Among other themes, the significance of speakers at the funeral and of mourners’ own authenticity are drawn on to then argue that Davies’ theorisation of funerals as ‘words against death’ needs to take account not only of what is done at funerals but who does it; that funerals are also ‘people and their relationships against death’.
30 citations
Cites background from "‘I Know we Can’t be a Family, but a..."
...Two contributions to the methodological discussions around the application of Finch’s concept of ‘displaying’ family (Almack, 2011; Doucet, 2011; Haynes and Dermott, 2011; James and Curtis, 2010; Kehily and Thomson, 2011; McIntosh et al., 2011; Seymour, 2011) can be proposed....
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