Description
Book SynopsisChildlessness is not a new phenomenon, but empirical evidence from the demographic field has demonstrated that it is on the increase. Furthermore, childlessness has a number of consequences for both women and men, the communities in which they live, their psychic states, their social networks and the organisations in which they work. Bringing together research from a wide range of scholarly disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, sociology, gender studies, social work and social policy, and underpinned by a feminist ontology this edited collection of original chapters provides an insight into the current state of the art research on the drivers, determinants, manifestations and outcomes of childlessness. The collection is intended to be a key resource for scholars, students and policymakers addressing this issue in a wide range of disciplinary contexts.
Trade ReviewSocial scientists from a number of countries explore key principles of feminist enquiry into theoretical perspectives on voluntary and involuntary childlessness; structure, agency, and childlessness; intersectional perspectives; lived experiences; and national perspectives. Among their topics are from deviant choice to feminist issue: a historical analysis of scholarship on voluntary childlessness 1920-2013, whether loneliness and regret are the inevitable outcomes of ageing and childlessness, age identity and never-married childless older women, finding Mr. Right: childfree women's partner preferences, and stigma and childlessness in historical and contemporary Japan. -- Annotation ©2018 * (protoview.com) *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Childlessness Through a Feminist Lens;
Natalie SappletonPart One: Theoretical Perspectives On Voluntary and Involuntary Childlessness Chapter 1. From Deviant Choice to Feminist Issue: A Historical Content Analysis of Scholarship on Voluntary Childlessness (1920 To 2013);
Ingrid Lynch, Tracy Morison, Catriona Ida Macleod, Magda Mijas, Ryan Du Toit, and Simi Seemanthini Chapter 2. What is it Like Being Involuntarily Childless? Searching for Ways of Understanding from a Psychological Perspective;
Megumi Fieldsend Chapter 3. Wanting to Want: Constructing the Dissident Childless Self;
Anna Gotlib Part Two: Structural and Agential Underpinnings of Childlessness Chapter 4. Capital in Pronatalist Fields: Exploring The Influence of Economic, Social, Cultural and Symbolic Capital on Childbearing Habitus;
Alyssa Mullins Chapter 5. Social Connectedness, Inclusion and Support: Experiences of Women Without Children in a Pronatalist Society;
Melissa Graham, Beth Turnbull, Hayley Mckenzie and Ann Taket Chapter 6. "Join the Club" Or "Don't have Kids?": Exploring Contradictory Experiences, Pressures and Encouragement to have Children in Pronatalist Social Fields;
Alyssa Mullins Part Three: Intersectional Perspectives On Childlessness Chapter 7. Are Loneliness and Regret the Inevitable Outcomes of Ageing and Childlessness?;
Jenny Mercer and Ros O'Driscoll Chapter 8. Age-Identity in Progress Narratives of Never-Married Childless Older Women;
Kate De Medeiros and Robert L. Rubinstein Part Four: Lived Experiences of Childlessness Chapter 9. The Voluntary Childless Marriage;
Laura Carroll Chapter 10. Finding Mr Right;
Helen Peterson Chapter 11. Understanding the Employment Experiences of Women with no Children;
Beth Turnbull, Melissa Graham and Ann Taket Chapter 12. Gender Segregation, Stereotypes, Wellbeing and Childlessness: Evidence of the Links in Europe;
Natalie Sappleton Part Five: National Perspectives On Childlessness Chapter 13. Childlessness in the Hungarian Context;
Ivett Szalma and Judit Takács Chapter 14. Stigma and Childlessness in Historical and Contemporary Japan;
Kimiko Tanaka and Deborah Lowry Chapter 15. The Childless Agenda in Germany
; Nazli Kazanoglu Postscript: Moving Forward: Towards a Feminist Understanding of 'Otherhood';
Natalie Sappleton
