Modern Men
A Norwegian 30-Year Longitudinal Study of Intergenerational Transmission and Social Change
av
Margunn Bjørnholt
Akademisk avhandling
Avhandling för filosofie doktorsexamen i genusvetenskap, som kommer att försvaras offentligt
torsdag den 9 oktober 2014 kl. 13.15, Prismahuset HSP2 Örebro universitet Opponent: Professor Karen Henwood
Cardiff University Wales, UK
Örebro universitet
Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap
Centrum för feministiska samhällsstudier 701 82 ÖREBRO
Abstract
The dissertation addresses men and change, intergenerational transmis-sion, historical change and agency, employing as a case a longitudinal follow-up study over two generations of men, where the fathers partici-pated in an experimental research project, the Work-Sharing Couples Project, which aimed to promote egalitarian work–family adaptations in Norway in the early 1970s. The original project was based on both spous-es working part-time and shift parenting. The summary prspous-esents a mul-tidimensional analysis of the work–family adaptations of the two gener-ations of men: the untraditional adaptation of fathers in the 1970s; and the neo-traditional adaptations of sons in the 2000s. Their different work–family adaptations are discussed as situated agency, taking into account different aspects of time and space, personal biography, discur-sive and material structures of opportunity, and intergenerational dy-namics at the family level as well as at social level.
The five articles present the empirical material: Bjørnholt (2009a) pre-sents the impact on the couple relation and the family of the the parents’ work–sharing arrangement, concluding that the work-sharing arrange-ment was perceived by the participants to have been beneficial for their couple relationship as well as for the family as a whole. Bjørnholt (2011) explores the motivations of the work-sharing men to act as agents of change towards gender equality, concluding that personal biography, an authoritative way of being and new masculinity ideals, notably a part-ner-oriented masculinity, were important. Bjørnholt (2010b) analyses the consequences of the work-sharing arrangement on the work-sharing men’s careers, concluding that there were few negative career effects. They were rather successful, and their house-father experiences tended to be valued by employers as management skills. Bjørnholt (2009b) con-cludes that a father–son design is insufficient in explaining intergenera-tional transmission and Bjørnholt (2010c) finds that the untradiintergenera-tional work–family arrangement had not been passed on to sons.
Keywords: fathering, intergenerational transmission, longitudinal qualita-tive research, masculinities, men, part-time, social change, work–family. Margunn Bjørnholt, School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Örebro University, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden,
Modern Men
A Norwegian 30-Year Longitudinal Study of Intergenerational Transmission and Social Change
av
Margunn Bjørnholt
Akademisk avhandling
Avhandling för filosofie doktorsexamen i genusvetenskap, som kommer att försvaras offentligt
torsdag den 9 oktober 2014 kl. 13.15, Prismahuset HSP2 Örebro universitet Opponent: Professor Karen Henwood
Cardiff University Wales, UK
Örebro universitet
Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap
Centrum för feministiska samhällsstudier 701 82 ÖREBRO
Abstract
The dissertation addresses men and change, intergenerational transmis-sion, historical change and agency, employing as a case a longitudinal follow-up study over two generations of men, where the fathers partici-pated in an experimental research project, the Work-Sharing Couples Project, which aimed to promote egalitarian work–family adaptations in Norway in the early 1970s. The original project was based on both spous-es working part-time and shift parenting. The summary prspous-esents a mul-tidimensional analysis of the work–family adaptations of the two gener-ations of men: the untraditional adaptation of fathers in the 1970s; and the neo-traditional adaptations of sons in the 2000s. Their different work–family adaptations are discussed as situated agency, taking into account different aspects of time and space, personal biography, discur-sive and material structures of opportunity, and intergenerational dy-namics at the family level as well as at social level.
The five articles present the empirical material: Bjørnholt (2009a) pre-sents the impact on the couple relation and the family of the the parents’ work–sharing arrangement, concluding that the work-sharing arrange-ment was perceived by the participants to have been beneficial for their couple relationship as well as for the family as a whole. Bjørnholt (2011) explores the motivations of the work-sharing men to act as agents of change towards gender equality, concluding that personal biography, an authoritative way of being and new masculinity ideals, notably a part-ner-oriented masculinity, were important. Bjørnholt (2010b) analyses the consequences of the work-sharing arrangement on the work-sharing men’s careers, concluding that there were few negative career effects. They were rather successful, and their house-father experiences tended to be valued by employers as management skills. Bjørnholt (2009b) con-cludes that a father–son design is insufficient in explaining intergenera-tional transmission and Bjørnholt (2010c) finds that the untradiintergenera-tional work–family arrangement had not been passed on to sons.
Keywords: fathering, intergenerational transmission, longitudinal qualita-tive research, masculinities, men, part-time, social change, work–family. Margunn Bjørnholt, School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Örebro University, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden,
