Workshop 2: men and the family

Friday 14 January 2011, in Edinburgh University Library (Room 1.07, Main Library)

9.30 SESSION I: FATHERHOOD PAST AND PRESENT

  • Lynn Abrams (History, Glasgow), 'Thinking about the family and fathers in Scottish history’ - Men and Family presentation (Powerpoint)
  • Katie Buston (MRC, Glasgow), ‘Concepts of fatherhood amongst marginalised males: findings from a qualitative study with young offenders’ 
  • Sharani Osborn (Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, Edinburgh), ‘Masculinities in the fathering practices of young Scottish men’

11.00 Coffee

11.30 SESSION II: THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILY 

  • John MacInnes (Sociology, Edinburgh), ‘Men and the decline of the patriarchal family in Scotland’ 
  • Katie Barclay (History, Warwick), ‘Patriarchs? Men, power and the family in historical perspective’

12.45 Lunch

1.45 SESSION III: DOMESTIC MASCULINITY

  • Eleanor Gordon (Economic and Social History, Glasgow), ‘Men at home: husbands and fathers in 19th- and early 20th-century Scotland’ 
  • John Stewart (Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare, Glasgow Caledonian), ‘Men, their wives, and their children: evidence from Scottish child guidance clinics in the inter-war period’

2.45 Tea

3.15 SESSION IV: YOUTH AND AGE

  • Peter Hopkins (Social Geography, Newcastle), ‘Youthful Muslim masculinities in contemporary Scotland’ 
  • Hilary Young (History, Open University), ‘From son to father: talking about Glaswegian masculinities in the mid-20th century’

4.30 Finish

Workshop 2: summary of the discussion

RSE Workshop Series
Scottish Masculinity in Historical Perspective
WORKSHOP 2: MEN AND THE FAMILY
Summary of Overarching Key Issues
• Relationship between masculinity and familial roles
• Continuity and change: what are the continuities in men's familial roles and practices which may be obscured by the caesura of the 19th century?
• Class - stereotypes of working class and middle class fatherhood
• Measure of appropriate familial behaviour = feminine
• Fatherhood: economic support v nurture/emotion 
• Scottish Context: is there anything peculiar about men's familial roles in Scotland?
• Intersectionality (gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, religion)
• Absences: what don't we know?
Summary of Concluding Discussion
Absences: singleness, siblings, kin, policy and legal obligations, men's wider familial relationships (between men and men and women/children), age, life course
What are the overriding factors that lead to change? MacInnes - Enlightenment, liberalism, feminism, industrialisation, demography - all leading to fundamental gender change. OR is economic change the driving factor?
Neglect of emotional life of the family - esp WC family
Tendency to focus on the problematic aspects of fatherhood
Issue of how we as researchers are constrained by our idea of the family (modern notions of self fulfilment versus notions of obligation)
Importance of locality within Scotland
Issues of family in relation to wider community
Must not neglect positive story - of men's emotional investment in the family

Summary of Overarching Key Issues

• Relationship between masculinity and familial roles
• Continuity and change: what are the continuities in men's familial roles and practices which may be obscured by the caesura of the 19th century?
• Class - stereotypes of working class and middle class fatherhood
• Measure of appropriate familial behaviour = feminine
• Fatherhood: economic support v nurture/emotion 
• Scottish Context: is there anything peculiar about men's familial roles in Scotland?
• Intersectionality (gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, religion)
• Absences: what don't we know?

 

Summary of Concluding Discussion

  • Absences: singleness, siblings, kin, policy and legal obligations, men's wider familial relationships (between men and men and women/children), age, life course
  • What are the overriding factors that lead to change? MacInnes - Enlightenment, liberalism, feminism, industrialisation, demography - all leading to fundamental gender change. OR is economic change the driving factor?
  • Neglect of emotional life of the family - esp WC family
  • Tendency to focus on the problematic aspects of fatherhood
  • Issue of how we as researchers are constrained by our idea of the family (modern notions of self fulfilment versus notions of obligation)
  • Importance of locality within Scotland
  • Issues of family in relation to wider community
  • Must not neglect positive story - of men's emotional investment in the family

    •