Fathering and Poverty: Uncovering Men’s Participation in Low-Income Family Life

Front Cover
Fathering and Poverty: Uncovering Men’s Participation in Low- Income Family Life
Copyright information
Dedication
Table of contents
List of figures and tables
List of abbreviations
About the author
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction: Fathering, poverty, families and policy
	‘Dad deprivation’: the current state of policy and public debate
	Contemporary fatherhoods: Unpicking father absence and presence
	The absent presence of low-income men
		Alternative stories?
	The absence of low-income fathers in qualitative research
	Researching the family participation of men in low-income contexts
	A new direction for debate and an overview of the book
2 Low-income fatherhoods in historical and political context
	Histories of low-income fatherhood: culture versus conduct
	The hyper-visibility of low-income fathers in contemporary social policy and welfare contexts
		Austerity Britain: absent fathers, deprived localities
		The (in)visibility of low-income fathers in social sciences research
		Marginalisation processes and fathering practices
	Men and contemporary family poverty
	Concluding remarks
3 Theorising men’s participation in low-income families
	Qualitative longitudinal research: thinking dynamically
	Families, caring masculinities and low-income life: a conceptual framework
		Family dynamics, diversity and social change
		Changing gender relations
		Theorising masculinities and fatherhoods in transition
		Masculinities and the doing of kinship
	Theorising low-income family life and local ties
	Concluding remarks
4 Supporting men in low-income contexts: practitioner observations
	Low-income family interdependencies on services
	Researching with service providers and support professionals
		A brief note on the city as context
		Formal agencies
		Voluntary and third sector agencies
		Knowledge-exchange workshop
	Concluding remarks
5 Men’s caring arrangements and family trajectories
	Diverse caring arrangements
	Young fathers
		Lone-father caring arrangements
		Social fathering and wider familial care practices
		Non-resident arrangements
	Lone, mid-life fatherhood
	Older male carers and grandfathers
	Concluding remarks
6 Familial economic circumstances and provisioning practices
	Reconciling earning and caring
	Managing ‘shocks’, and strategies for getting by
	Welfare trajectories and processes
	Child maintenance policy and processes
	Securing appropriate housing
	Anticipated welfare futures
	Concluding remarks
7 Men’s family participation in low-income urban neighbourhoods
	A contextual description of the locality
	Immersion in life at the community centre
	Capturing locality-based resources: walking photovoice
	Concluding remarks
8 Conclusion: Men’s family participation in low-income contexts
	The contributions of MPLC
	The dynamics of men’s family lives: conceptualising family participation
	The deprivations of context
	Supporting men as fathers and carers
	Ongoing and future research
	Men are committed to the people in their families and value their roles as fathers and grandfathers
	As well as being fathers and grandfathers, men also look out for each other in their localities as uncles and brothers
	However, over time, men may be unable to fulfil their care responsibilities because of continuing constraints on their resources
		Geography, relationships with partners and a lack of state support
		Men are not just ‘absent’ dads. They make decisions about their responsibilities in relation to their resources and within complex family circumstances
	The effects of care responsibilities and constraint on men’s well being; emotional responses
Appendix A: Participant information
Appendix B: ‘Existing evidence’ document shared at the knowledge-exchange workshop
	Men, Poverty and Lifetimes of Care
	Men are committed to the people in their families and value their roles as fathers and grandfathers
	As well as being fathers and grandfathers, men also look out for each other in their localities as uncles and brothers
	However, over time, men may be unable to fulfil their care responsibilities because of continuing constraints on their resources
		Geography, relationships with partners and a lack of state support
		Men are not just ‘absent’ dads. They make decisions about their responsibilities in relation to their resources and within complex family circumstances
	The effects of care responsibilities and constraint on men’s well being; emotional responses
Notes
References
Index
Back Cover