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Involved Fatherhood: Source of New Gender Conflicts?

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Book cover Balancing Work and Family in a Changing Society

Part of the book series: Global Masculinities ((GLMAS))

Abstract

During the past two decades the culture of fatherhood changed a lot, if not fundamentally in most countries of the global north. The figure of the male breadwinner, being one of the pillars of the traditional gender order, is no more taken for granted, but increasingly questioned (Cunningham, 2008; Meuser, 2010). A new cultural ideal of fatherhood developed: the “new” or the “involved” father—a father who participates in domestic work and childcare. Defining fatherhood only in terms of breadwinning for the family is more and more rejected as one-sided and seen as not matching the desires and needs of fathers as well as mothers.

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© 2016 Diana Lengersdorf and Michael Meuser

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Lengersdorf, D., Meuser, M. (2016). Involved Fatherhood: Source of New Gender Conflicts?. In: Balancing Work and Family in a Changing Society. Global Masculinities. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53354-8_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53354-8_10

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59527-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-53354-8

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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