Essential Dads: The Inequalities and Politics of Fathering

by Jennifer M. Randles

Overview

In Essential Dads, sociologist Jennifer Randles shares the stories of more than 60 marginalized men as they sought to become more engaged parents through a government-supported “responsible” fatherhood program. Dads’ experiences serve as a unique window into long-standing controversies about the importance of fathering, its connection to inequality, and the state’s role in shaping men’s parenting. With a compassionate and hopeful voice, Randles proposes a more equitable political agenda for fatherhood, one that carefully considers the social and economic factors shaping men’s abilities to be involved in their children’s lives and the ideologies that rationalize the necessity of that involvement.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520335233
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	10/13/2020
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	278
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Jennifer M. Randles is Chair and Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at California State University, Fresno, and author of Proposing Prosperity? Marriage Education Policy and Inequality in America.

Table of Contents

1 Knowing What a Father Is 1

2 Being There Beyond Breadwinning 31

3 Resources for Responsibility 58

4 Making a Case to Mothers 88

5 New Fathers and Old Ideas 124

6 Teaching the Essential Father 154

7 Having It Better 186

Acknowledgments 209

Appendix: Pregnancy and Parenthood in the Field 213

Notes 225

References 241

Index 261