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Time, Change and Continuity in Family Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Dorothy Jerrome
Dorothy Jerrome
Affiliation:
School of Cultural and Community Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QN, U.K.
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Abstract

Personal development through the lifespan takes place in the context of the family, which is itself changing over time. Change occurs at three different levels – the institution of the family, dyadic relationships within it, the developing individual. Change at different levels and affecting different individuals is sometimes coordinated but often unsynchronised, with consequences for family members' sense of control and well-being. Using autobiographical material from the Mass-Observation Archive it is possible to examine a range of subjective experience, some of it illuminating themes in the literature of social gerontology, some of it prompting new lines of enquiry. The use of autobiographical material is justified by its richness and capacity to illustrate the uniqueness of experience. The case study method is appropriate for the study of sensitive issues, ambiguous concepts and uncharted areas of experience.

Keywords

Autobigraphycase studydevelopmentfamily dispersalkinshipsiblings
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 1994 , pp. 1 - 27
Copyright
Copyright Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

NOTES

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