Making Men into Fathers
Men, Masculinities and the Social Politics of Fatherhood

Prominent gender studies scholars consider how institutional settings and policy shape new models of fatherhood.

Barbara Hobson (Edited by)

9780521809276, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 January 2002

340 pages, 11 b/w illus. 7 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.65 kg

'It does … make an important contribution and will be a continuing asset. The paperback edition also has a wonderful cover picture. This is a photograph from a Swedish campaign promoting the new father in the 1970s. It shows a well-known weightlifter holding a baby. The weightlifter is smiling hesitantly, as if he had just discovered a new pleasure but was not sure if it was allowed. The baby is looking quite sceptical. Perhaps they are both right.' International Sociology

Fatherhood is on the political agenda in many countries, often cast in terms of crisis. One side of the policy debate focuses on fathers as deadbeat dads who do not provide financial support and care for their children. The other revolves around making men into active and engaged fathers. However, these policies are often at odds with the employers' reluctance to accommodate work schedules to fathers' needs. In Making Men into Fathers, prominent scholars in gender studies and the critical studies of men consider how varied institutional settings and policy logics around cash and care contour the possibilities and constraints for new models of fatherhood, determining the choices open to men. From different historical and societal perspectives, the authors provide insights into the studies of men as gendered subjects, including the role of transnational and global issues of fatherhood, and the emergence of men's movements, contesting and reimaging fatherhood.

List of figures
List of tables
Preface
Introduction: making men into fathers Barbara Hobson and David Morgan
Part I. Who Fathers?: 1. Coresidential paternal roles in industrialized countries: Sweden, Hungary and the United States Livia Sz. Oláh, Eva M. Bernhardt and Frances K. Goldscheider
Part II. Men in Social Policy and the Logics of Cash and Care: 2. Citizens, workers or fathers? Men in the history of US social policy Ann SholaOrloff and Renee Monson
3. Compulsory fatherhood: the coding of fatherhood in the Swedish welfare state Helena Bergman and Barbara Hobson
4. The problem of fathers: policy and behaviour in Britain Jane Lewis
5. A new role for fathers? The German case Ilona Ostner
6. Transformations of fatherhood: the Netherlands Trudie Knijn and Peter Selten
Part III. Resisting and Reclaiming Fatherhood: 7. Making sense of fatherhood: the non-payment of child support in Spain Ingegerd Municio-Larsson and Carmen Pujol Algans
8. The Fatherhood Responsibility Movement: the centrality of marriage, work and male sexuality in reconstructions of masculinity and fatherhood Anne Gavanas
Part IV. Theorizing Men, Masculinities and Fatherhood: 9. Men, fathers and the state: national and global relations Jeff Hearn
10. Epilogue David Morgan
Notes
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Gender studies: men [JFSJ2], Gender studies, gender groups [JFSJ]