Food, Families and Work

(Hardback)

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With dual-working households now the norm, Food, Families and Work is the first comprehensive study to explore how families negotiate everyday food practices in the context of paid employment. As the working hours of British parents are among the highest in Europe, the United Kingdom provides a key case study for investigating the relationship between parental employment and family food practices. Focusing on issues such as the gender division of foodwork, the impact of family income on diet, family meals, and the power children wield over the food they eat, the book offers a longitudinal view of family routines. It explores how the everyday meanings of food change as children grow older and negotiate changes in their own lives and those of their family members. Drawing on extensive quantitative data from large-scale surveys of food and diet as well as qualitative evidence to emphasise the larger global context of social and economic change and shifting patterns of family life, Rebecca OConnell and Julia Brannen present a holistic overview of food practices within busy contemporary family lives. Featuring perspectives from both parents and children, this innovative approach to some of the most hotly-debated topics in food studies is a must-read for students and scholars in food studies, sociology, anthropology, nutrition and public health.

Reviews

Brannen and OConnell have deftly provided a look at how families feed their children. The authors employ an impressive mixed-methods, longitudinal approach that brings refreshing perspective to a global debate often fraught with dramatic pronouncements regarding childhood obesity and the decline of the family meal. A systematic appraisal of dynamic influences including shifting parental employment, domestic foodwork roles, child development, and temporal considerations helps advance an evolving conversation about the family table. The authors skilfully weave rich, evocative case studies into this important contribution to the literature. -- David Livert, Pennsylvania State University, USA
This book achieves so much, so skilfully; at its heart is a robust analysis of data relating to mothers, fathers and children, drawing on quantitative and qualitative research methods and considering the complex issues of food, families and work over time. It will be of interest to a variety of scholars. -- Wendy Wills, University of Hertfordshire, UK
By situating childrens food in the context of the everyday lives of working families and by considering how children as social agents negotiate their food choices as they move through their lives at home, childcare, and school, OConnell and Brannens important contribution illuminates the complexities of food and family life and the dynamic, negotiated practice of childrens food in contemporary England. -- Roblyn Rawlins, The College of New Rochelle, USA

Author Bio

Rebecca O'Connell is a Senior Research Officer at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, IOE, UCLs Faculty of Education and Society, University College London, UK. She is co-convenor of the British Sociological Association Food Study Group. Julia Brannen is Professor of Sociology of the Family at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, IOE, UCLs Faculty of Education and Society, University College London, UK and Adjunct Professor at the University of Bergen, Norway.