scholarly journals ‘Cold intimacies’ in parents’ negotiations of work–family practices and parental leave?

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 1137-1153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Twamley

This article aims to assess the contention that a ‘feminist’ ideology is associated with a ‘cooling’ of intimacy in heterosexual relationships, as argued by scholars such as Arlie Hochschild and Eva Illouz. According to this thesis, such an ideology, ‘abducted’ by a commercial spirit, encourages women to disengage from warm intimate bonds with others and to prioritize their own personal fulfilment and parity in care and housework. Drawing on two qualitative empirical studies exploring couples’ intimate lives and their feminist and egalitarian preferences and practices in leave, care and housework, this article examines in detail the basis of this thesis, and its effectiveness in explaining the lived experiences of parent couples’ negotiations of this terrain. The data were collected through focus group discussions with parents not sharing leave and a detailed ethnography with couples sharing leave. The comparison shows that, far from observing a clear dichotomy between ‘cold’ feminists and ‘warm’ traditional couples, both sets of parents present a more complex picture of ‘warm’ and ‘cold’ relations. The analysis enables a critical appreciation of sociological theorizing about gender equality and intimacy, contributing to sociological debates around individualism, feminism and family life.

2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Hockey ◽  
Victoria Robinson ◽  
Angela Meah

Based upon a series of focus group discussions carried out in East Yorkshire, this article contributes to debates on both the nature and theorising of heterosexual relationships that have recently been investigated from diverse perspectives. These group discussions represent the launch of the first major empirical study of heterosexuality and ageing that has been undertaken in the UK. In drawing upon preliminary data from these focus groups, our findings reinforce and add to the challenging of a representation of heterosexuality which is both monolithic and inflexible, by exploring accounts of peoples’ actual lived experiences. Through this research we begin to generate a theoretical approach which highlights the complexity of these lived realities. We particularly explore the intersections of gender, age, class and family location. In doing so, we pinpoint differences, contradictions, but also continuities, in the ways in which people discuss and comment on their own and other people's perceptions and experiences of heterosexuality.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mulki M Al-Sharmani ◽  
Abdirashid A Ismail

In this article, we investigate how marriage practices of Somali migrants in Finland are influenced by their transnational kinship. We examine how transnational family ties play a role in migrants’ spouse selection, marriage arrangements, and management of spousal resources. We also identify the factors that enable migrants to successfully navigate marital challenges caused by their transnational kin-based ties. These factors are: companionate marriage relationship based on emotional closeness and flexible spousal roles, compatibility in spousal resources, and the cooperation of couples in navigating transnational family obligations. We show how gender and generation are at play (in complex ways) in the interplay between transnational kinship and marriage. We draw on interview data from 16 married male and female interviewees, taken from a larger sample of 37 informants of different marital statuses. Our analysis is also based on data from focus group discussions


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina I. Tobias ◽  
Sourav Mukhopadhyay

This article explores the experiences of social exclusion of individuals with visual impairment (IWVI) as they negotiate their daily lives in their homes and societal settings in the Oshana and Oshikoto regions of Namibia. Employing qualitative research approach, this research tried to better understand the lived experiences of IWVI. Nine IWVI with ages ranging from 30 to 90 years were initially engaged in focus group discussions, followed by semi-structured in-depth individual interviews. The findings of this research indicated that IWVI experience exclusion from education, employment and social and community participation as well as relationships. Based on these findings, we suggest more inclusive policies to address social exclusion of IWVI. At the same time, this group of individuals should be empowered to participate in community activities to promote interaction with people without visual impairments.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-53
Author(s):  
Keitseope Nthomang

Empirical studies on the impact of micro level intervention strategies on poverty among poor women in Botswana are lacking, yet women are a valuable asset for the economy of the country. Continued marginalization and disempowerment of women has become a serious problem which merit urgent attention. This article investigates the potential of the Grow Model in transforming the lives of 14 women who belong to the Kgopolano GROW Group in Molepolole, Botswana. Data was collected in May 2014 using primarily in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The analysis utilized both content and thematic approaches. The results showed how the Grow Model has inspired women to empower themselves and self-transform into productive and prosperous lives. The results affirm the strength of the GROW model in promoting empowerment for social change in marginalized contexts. Key policy recommendations recognizes the limitations of the GROW model and build on its strengths.


Plaridel ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-201
Author(s):  
Kristine Kalaw-Adalla

Embroidery provides meaningful discoveries through interactions and relations connected in the lived experiences of women hand embroiderers. A woman’s performance of her embroidery skills indicates the intimate connection of her womanhood, her daily life, and the kind of labor and effort she places upon it. Interviews, focus group discussions, and creative workshop reveal that social conditions from the past to the present, allow her to continuously construct her identity and negotiate her role in society. Embroidery has offered the women in this study an opportunity to create not only their identity as individuals but also as a community, and has helped them develop their capacities beyond realizing their womanhood. The presence of the problematics of gender and power is evident through the obvious contradictions of the empowered under disempowering conditions thus rendering their power and empowerment, symbolic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-95
Author(s):  
Nsemba Edward Lenshie ◽  
Patience Kondu Jacob

The relationship between Fulani herdsmen and farmers has in recent years become hot-tempered motivated by competitive control of land resources, particularly in central and north-east Nigeria. In Taraba State, the ongoing nomadic migration pattern from the Sahel in quest of pastures has led to violent confrontation between Fulani herdsmen and farming indigenous natives. Using a descriptive approach consisting of documented evidence, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions, the analysis revealed that conflicts between Fulani herdsmen and indigenous native farmers have culminated in population displacement and destruction of life and property in numerous rural enclaves in Taraba State. Despite the consequences of the conflicts, the Taraba State government was unable to act proactively because of the centralization of command over Nigerian security agencies. Accordingly, the study suggests decentralization of security agencies in Nigeria, especially the police, as the way forward for effective security governance in Nigeria.


1970 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-97
Author(s):  
Олена Злобіна

Статтю    присвячено    аналізу    можливостей    застосування    міждисциплінарного    підходу    в  дослідженнях трансформацій конструкту ідентичності. Виокремлено обмеженості дослідження стадій  циплінарних  підходах.  Запропоновано  застосувати  стадійний  підхід  в  аналізі  вікової  групи  «молодь»  з  метою верифікації положення про її диференціацію на різні вікові підгрупи, які відрізняються статусами  ідентичності. Теоретичним підґрунтям дослідження є теорія психогенетичного розвитку особистості Е.  Еріксона та статусна динамічна модель розвитку ідентичності Дж. Марсіа. Емпіричну основу склали  матеріали аналізу 14 фокус-групових дискусій, проведених у молодіжних аудиторіях: 7 груп з молоддю у віці  18-21  рік  і  7  з  молоддю  у  віці  26-30  років.  Підтверджено  внутрішню  диференціацію    вікової  стадії  «молодість». Показано, що динаміка психогенезу на цій стадії характеризується домінуванням дифузного  статусу у молодшої групи та статусу досягненості у старшої.  Інші статуси зустрічаються значно  рідше.   Наявний   емпіричний   матеріал   не   дає   можливості   простежити   чинники,   які   зумовлюють  зафіксовані відмінності, проте отримані в ході дослідження типові портрети зазначених груп  дозволяють   розвинути міждисциплінарний підхід до проблеми персоногенезу та застосувати його можливості для  вироблення стратегії дослідження «процесу переходу» від стадії до стадії The article is devoted to the analysis of the possibilities of using the interdisciplinary approach in studies of transformations of the construct of identity. The limitations of studies of stages of development in monodisciplinary approaches are singled out. It is suggested to apply the step-by-step approach in the analysis of the age group "youth" in order to verify the position on its differentiation into different age subgroups that differ in identity statuses. The theoretical basis of the study is the theory of psychogenetic development of the personality of E. Erickson and the status dynamic model of identity development of J. Marcia. Empirical basis was made by the analysis materials 14 focus group discussions held in youth audiences: 7 groups with youth aged 18-21 and 7 with young people aged 26-30. The internal differentiation of the age stage "youth" has been confirmed. It is shown that the dynamics of psychogenesis at this stage is characterized by the dominance of diffuse status in the younger group and the status of attainment in the older group. Other statuses are much less common. The existing empirical material does not provide an opportunity to trace the factors that cause the observed differences, but the typical portraits of these groups obtained in the course of the research allow developing an interdisciplinary approach to the problem of personogenesis and applying its possibilities for developing a strategy for studying the "transition process" from stage to stage.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-210
Author(s):  
Addiarrahman Addiarrahman ◽  
Illy Yanti

This study seeks to understand the pragmatism of the development of sharia economic law, and its implications for Islamic financial products in Indonesia. The data comes from the results of interviews and focus group discussions with key informants from academics, practitioners, authorities, and the public. This research finds that pragmatism in the development of Islamic economic law is an approach that still dominates the DSN-MUI fatwas. The pragmatism style used is complex-eclectic pragmatism which is represented through makhārij al-fiqhiyyah, which is to choose a mild opinion by sticking to the strongest method or also called "taysīr al-manhajī". The use of this method is intended to ensure that the fatwa is truly able to answer the needs of the business world, as well as being in line with sharia principles. DSN-MUI also does not use maslahah as a legal consideration in a free or liberal way. Rather, it returns maslahah in consideration of the method, so that it is permissible to use the bay’ al-'inān contract only in a forced state (ḍarurah).


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Dowling ◽  
Somikazi Deyi ◽  
Anele Gobodwana

While there have been a number of studies on the decontextualisation and secularisation of traditional ritual music in America, Taiwan and other parts of the globe, very little has been written on the processes and transformations that South Africa’s indigenous ceremonial songs go through over time. This study was prompted by the authors’ interest in, and engagement with the Xhosa initiation song Somagwaza, which has been re-imagined as a popular song, but has also purportedly found its way into other religious spaces. In this article, we attempted to investigate the extent to which the song Somagwaza is still associated with the Xhosa initiation ritual and to analyse evidence of it being decontextualised and secularised in contemporary South Africa. Our methodology included an examination of the various academic treatments of the song, an analysis of the lyrics of a popular song, bearing the same name, holding small focus group discussions, and distributing questionnaires to speakers of isiXhosa on the topic of the song. The data gathered were analysed using the constant comparative method of analysing qualitative research.


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