Parenting And Family Life

Run by Sarah Irwin, this study has explored parents’ experiences of raising children in contemporary Britain, their expectations for their children's futures and their practices and orientations.  Interviews were run with parents over a six year period as their children grew through their teenage years. Run from 2008 to 2014 the research also covered the period of recession, austerity and changing prospects in employment and education and explored how these changes impacted on families. It explored aspects of inequality through a study included families living in very diverse circumstances and through consideration of perceptions of (changing) inequalities. Publications which draw on the project, or relate to it, include the following:

Irwin, S. (2020) ‘Subjective understandings of young people’s agency: concepts, methods and lay frames of reference’, in Nico, M. and Caetano, A. (eds) Structure and agency in young people’s lives: theory, methods and agendas, Routledge.

Irwin, S. (2018) 'How parents see their children's future: education, work and social change in England', in Irwin, Nilsen (eds) Transitions to adulthood through recession: youth and inequality in a European comparative perspective, Routledge.

Irwin, S. (2017) ‘Parenting teenagers as they grow up: values, practices and young people’s pathways beyond school in England’, The Sociological Review, DOI: 10.1177/0038026117691718

Irwin, S. (2016) Lay perceptions of inequality and social structure’, Sociology, DOI: 10.1177/0038038516661264

Irwin, S. (2015) ‘Class and Comparison: Subjective social location and lay experiences of constraint and mobility’, British Journal of Sociology

Irwin, S. and Elley, S. (2013) ‘Parents’ hopes and expectations for their children’s future occupations’, The Sociological Review 61 [1]: 111-130

Irwin, S. and Elley, S. (2011) ‘Concerted cultivation? Parenting values, education and class diversity’, Sociology 45[3]: 480-495.