Kinship Matters

Author: Fatemeh Ebtehaj; Bridget Lindley; Martin Richards
Publisher: Hart Publishing
ISBN: 9781841136974
Published In: October 2006
Format: Paperback , 326 pages
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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This book is the fifth in a series by the Cambridge Socio-legal Group and is a product of a three day conference held in Cambridge in September 2005. It concerns the evolving notions and practices of kinship in contemporary Britain and the interrelationship of kinship, law and social policy. Assembling contributions from scholars in a range of disciplines, it examines social, legal, cultural and psychological questions related to kinship.

Rising rates of divorce and of alternative modes of partnership have raised questions about the care and well-being of children, while increasing longevity and mobility, together with lower birth rates and changes in our economic circumstances, have led to a reconsideration of duties and responsibilities towards the care of elderly people. In addition, globalisation trends and international flows of migrants and refugees have confronted us with alternative constructions of kinship and with the challenges of maintaining kinship ties transnationally.

Finally, new developments in genetics research and the growing use of assisted reproductive technologies may raise questions about our notions of kinship and of kin rights and responsibilities. The chapters in this book explore these changes and continuities from various disciplinary perspectives and draw on theoretical and empirical data to describe understandings and practices of kinship over time and across social groups in contemporary Britain. As will be evident throughout the book, meanings of kinship are multiple, contingent, and contested. Folk, institutional and disciplinary understandings constitute kinship in different ways, and these understandings shift with time and place.

Fatemeh Ebtehaj is an associate member of the Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge.
Bridget Lindley is a solicitor and family mediator and was a Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge.
Martin Richards is Emeritus Professor of Family Research at the Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge.

…a coherent contribution to understandings of the interaction between legal frameworks and lived experiences of kinship…contains theoretical chapters and both qualitative and quantitative empirical chapters which compliment each other well…the book will be of particular interest to academics working in this area, as well as to policy-makers and service-providers.
Katherine Davies
Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law
Vol. 29, Nos. 3-4, Sept-Dec 07

This timely collection draws together fascinating and often comprehensive information, analysis and arguments about kin and social policy. If readers require either a detailed overview of contemporary, cultural, or historical socio-legal perspectives on kinship, or a reference book about specific kin subtopics, then this book is to be highly recommended.
Bob Broad
Children & Society, Vol 21
April 2007