Leading academics in the field consider current diverse practices in families, and reveal the lack of balance between policies based on how families should be and how they actually are, illustrating the need for a broader definition of family. This book shows the need to take fluidity and change in family arrangements seriously, rather than simply seeing change as dangerous and undesirable.

The `New¿ Practices and Politics of Family Life - Elizabeth B Silva and Carol SmartRisk and Family Practices - David Morgan Accounting for Change and Fluidity in Family LifeResourcing the Family - Sarah Irwin Gendered Claims and Obligations and Issues of ExplanationTransforming Housewifery - Elizabeth B Silva Dispositions, Practices and TechnologiesA Passion for `Sameness¿ - Gillian Dunne Sexuality and Gender AccountabilityEveryday Experiments - Jeffrey Weeks, Catherine Donovan and Brian Heaphy Narratives of Non-Heterosexual RelationshipsThe `New¿ Parenthood - Carol Smart Fathers and Mothers after DivorceGenerational Ties in the `New¿ Family - Joanna Bornat et al Changing Contexts for Traditional ObligationsBrothers and Sisters, Uncles and Aunts - Mary Chamberlain A Lateral Perspective on Caribbean Families Reconsidering Children and Childhood - Julia Brannen Sociological and Policy Perspectives