Janet Finch

Negotiating Family Responsibilities

1. Understanding Family Responsibilities. 2. Balancing Responsibilities: Dependence and Independence. 3. Negotiating Commitments Over Time. 4. Making Legitimate Excuses. 5. Reputations and Moral Identitiesin the Negotiation of Family Responsibilities. 6. Conclusion. Appendices

Filial Obligations and Kin Support for Elderly People

This article explores the nature of obligation and responsibility within kin groups, focusing particularly upon how far these underscore the assistance which may be offered by children to their elderly parents. Both quantitative and qualitative data, drawn from a study of family obligations in the north-west of England, are discussed. The authors argue that relationships between parents and children are founded on a sense of obligation up to a point, but assent for this is not universal and such obligations are seen as having definite limits. To understand how obligations operate in practice, it is necessary to focus upon the way in which support for elderly parents is a matter for negotiation in families, and to examine the principles which are incorporated into such negotiations.

Divorce, remarriage and family obligations

This article is concerned with relationships between adult kin following divorce, and especially those relationships between former in-laws. Questions are raised about the circumstances under which these continue, the extent to which they provide the basis for practical assistance, and how far the continuation of such relationships after divorce is seen as normatively appropriate. Data from a study of family obligations are used to discuss these questions. The authors conclude that the continuation of close supportive relationships can happen, but that this is both rare and unpredictable. Where it does occur, it is as much a product of the history of the relationships between the individuals concerned, as of their genealogical locations in relation to each other. Therefore it cannot be assumed that ex in-law relationships could represent a reliable basis for practical support. However, where supportive relationships do continue they are welcomed by the participants and the situation is widely approved of at a normative level.

The Deceit of Self Help: Preschool Playgroups and Working Class Mothers

This article explores the voluntary, self help sector of preschool provision, using material from an in-depth study of playgroups in economically deprived areas of Lancashire. It argues that such playgroups tend either to collapse or to abandon the principle of self help because the economic, structural and cultural location of working class women makes these alternatives to statutory provision not a viable option in such localities. The restructuring of welfare to encourage self help is deceitful because it promotes forms of provision which working class women cannot provide for themselves; it fits well, however, with encouraging them to be ‘better’ mothers on a full-time basis.

By women for women: Caring for the frail elderly

Abstract The care of the frail elderly should be a subject of especial and growing importance to the womens movement. Two-thirds of the 75+ age group in England and Wales are women, who, when subject to the disabilities of advancing age, are usually assisted or cared for by other women. Current government policies emphasize care at home and assume the availability of unpaid female labour. Care in residential institutions depends largely upon the low paid labour of women. How can the dilemmas posed by different policy options be resolved? Can modes of care be devised which do not rely on exploiting womens labour and which offer choice to elderly women?

Gender, Employment and Responsibilities to Kin

This article is concerned with conflicts of interest between peoples commitment to employment and their responsibilities to kin, especially for the care of elderly relatives. Questions are raised about what is generally seen as the appropriate balance of priorities, and how such priorities and conflicts are actually handled and resolved in kin groups, by women in particular. The paper draws on both quantitative and qualitative data from a study of family obligations. The authors argue that choices between either maintaining or giving up employment to care for kin rarely arise in such stark form for a variety of reasons. When they do, however, compromise strategies tend to be sought which protect existing employment whilst at the same time enabling people to take some responsibility for their kin. Womens jobs, as well as mens, can be protected in these circumstances and this is widely approved of at the normative level. It is likely that in the future, if more women are encouraged into the labour market, and if they develop consistent employment patterns, many more may need to generate compromise strategies.

A First‐class Environment? Working‐class playgroups as preschool experience

ABSTRACT This article examines the voluntary, non‐profit‐making playgroup as a ‘self‐help’ alternative to nursery education. It is an alternative increasingly favoured by governments as an initiative to accompany cuts in state‐funded services. The article presents data from a small‐scale, longitudinal and qualitative study of self‐help playgroups in inner city areas on council estates. It shows that the form and character which these groups take means that they cannot be regarded as an alternative to nursery schools in the provision of preschool education, which is what parents wish them to be. Working‐class women cannot produce self‐help nursery education when they lack the material and cultural resources, nor should they be expected to do so.

The State and the Family

The role of the state in regulating family life has been the subject of substantial analysis by social theorists since the 1970s. I do not propose to revisit the well trodden ground. Rather my starting point is a rather simple (perhaps simple minded) question: Why does the state have so much trouble in its attempts to regulate family relationships? Of course, there is a sense in which all policy initiatives are contentious. But I believe that most people would recognize that, where governments try to intervene in the personal lives of their citizens, their plans tend to elicit difficulties of a particularly sensitive kind. We can see this by considering two examples from the UK.

Pastoral care, juvenile justice and the welfare network

This article considers the involvement of schools and teachers in schemes which develop work with young offenders as an alternative to prosecution. Data from one such experimental scheme are presented and discussed. Issues are raised about the consequences of schools’ involvement in this kind of policy initiative which begins outside the educational system and entails co‐operation with professional workers in other statutory agencies. A central theme is whether a tightening of the welfare network in this way is unambiguously in the interests of young people.