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one - Introduction: widening the lens on grandparenting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2022

Virpi Timonen
Affiliation:
Trinity College Dublin
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Summary

Introduction

This book is a sequel to Contemporary grandparenting, published in 2012 (Arber and Timonen, 2012). In the first chapter of Contemporary grandparenting, we noted that the existing literature on grandparenting heavily focused on exploring the factors – such as age, gender, geographical proximity, marital status and lineage – that influence the frequency of contact and quality of relationships between grandparents and grandchildren. While the purpose of this introduction is not to provide a review of literature published since 2012, I note that several recent studies have continued to probe into these aspects of grandparenting – for instance, Dunifon and Bajracharia (2012), Danielsbacka and Tanskanen (2012) and Kolk (2017). Another long-established line of enquiry pertains to the extent and circumstances of intergenerational transfers of time, money and accommodation. In the 2012 book, we argued that while it is important that patterns of contact and transfers of time and material resources between generations continue to receive attention, it is also essential to broaden the enquiry to examine the evolving nature and meanings of these transfers, and changes in intergenerational relationships more generally. We were also motivated by the absence of book-length accounts of grandparenting, with the exception of some outdated volumes that focused on grandparenting in a single-country context.

Contemporary grandparenting explored the extent to which, under different welfare contexts and family circumstances, grandparents (especially grandmothers) perform the roles of ‘child savers’ and ‘mother savers’ and act as a ‘reserve army’ or ‘family savers’ in situations where their adult children(-in-law) are strained or unable to look after their children (Arber and Timonen, 2012). But we also noted that alongside these functions, grandparents are increasingly important in many cultures as ‘family maximisers’ (Baker and Silverstein, 2012), making important inputs to enable younger family generations to succeed in realms such as the labour market and education. In other words, the functions of grandparents – as sources of help, care and support to younger family generations – have been a central focus in the literature. Other key conceptual frameworks discussed in Contemporary grandparenting included the norm of non-interference and the norm of obligation – the expectation that grandparents offer help and support to younger generations without interfering in their decisions regarding, in particular, key choices surrounding the upbringing of children (May et al., 2012).

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Publisher: Bristol University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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