Thicker than Water: Siblings and their Relations, 1780-1920
Brothers and sisters remain, for those that have them, an inextricable part of existence. In adult life they may never be in contact but they cannot be formally divorced. Brothers and sisters are frequently life's longest relationship. Yet until recently, historians have scarcely noticed.

Thicker than Water is a pioneering history of sibling relationships in the long nineteenth century, from the last decades of the eighteenth to the first decades of the twentieth. The principal focus is on Britain, the first major capitalist society, and its middle classes, who were at the core of the nascent new order. It was their extensive family networks that provided the capital, personnel, skills, and contacts crucial to the rapidly expanding commercial and professional enterprises of the Victorian era.

Davidoff examines what we know about sibling relationships at this time, before delving deeper, looking at their uses and meaning for British middle class families, how they operated within the economic, social, cultural, and religious constraints of their place and time, and how they changed as families became smaller from the end of the nineteenth century onwards.

The issues raised throughout the book are grounded in an exploration of some specific themes, sibling intimacy and incest, sibling death, as well as in case studies of famous sibling relationships, such as that between William Gladstone and his sisters, and a revealing account of the household relations of perhaps the most influential interpreter of personal and familial life in modern society, Sigmund Freud.
1111101798
Thicker than Water: Siblings and their Relations, 1780-1920
Brothers and sisters remain, for those that have them, an inextricable part of existence. In adult life they may never be in contact but they cannot be formally divorced. Brothers and sisters are frequently life's longest relationship. Yet until recently, historians have scarcely noticed.

Thicker than Water is a pioneering history of sibling relationships in the long nineteenth century, from the last decades of the eighteenth to the first decades of the twentieth. The principal focus is on Britain, the first major capitalist society, and its middle classes, who were at the core of the nascent new order. It was their extensive family networks that provided the capital, personnel, skills, and contacts crucial to the rapidly expanding commercial and professional enterprises of the Victorian era.

Davidoff examines what we know about sibling relationships at this time, before delving deeper, looking at their uses and meaning for British middle class families, how they operated within the economic, social, cultural, and religious constraints of their place and time, and how they changed as families became smaller from the end of the nineteenth century onwards.

The issues raised throughout the book are grounded in an exploration of some specific themes, sibling intimacy and incest, sibling death, as well as in case studies of famous sibling relationships, such as that between William Gladstone and his sisters, and a revealing account of the household relations of perhaps the most influential interpreter of personal and familial life in modern society, Sigmund Freud.
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Thicker than Water: Siblings and their Relations, 1780-1920

Thicker than Water: Siblings and their Relations, 1780-1920

by Leonore Davidoff
Thicker than Water: Siblings and their Relations, 1780-1920

Thicker than Water: Siblings and their Relations, 1780-1920

by Leonore Davidoff

Paperback(Reprint)

$47.99 
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Overview

Brothers and sisters remain, for those that have them, an inextricable part of existence. In adult life they may never be in contact but they cannot be formally divorced. Brothers and sisters are frequently life's longest relationship. Yet until recently, historians have scarcely noticed.

Thicker than Water is a pioneering history of sibling relationships in the long nineteenth century, from the last decades of the eighteenth to the first decades of the twentieth. The principal focus is on Britain, the first major capitalist society, and its middle classes, who were at the core of the nascent new order. It was their extensive family networks that provided the capital, personnel, skills, and contacts crucial to the rapidly expanding commercial and professional enterprises of the Victorian era.

Davidoff examines what we know about sibling relationships at this time, before delving deeper, looking at their uses and meaning for British middle class families, how they operated within the economic, social, cultural, and religious constraints of their place and time, and how they changed as families became smaller from the end of the nineteenth century onwards.

The issues raised throughout the book are grounded in an exploration of some specific themes, sibling intimacy and incest, sibling death, as well as in case studies of famous sibling relationships, such as that between William Gladstone and his sisters, and a revealing account of the household relations of perhaps the most influential interpreter of personal and familial life in modern society, Sigmund Freud.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780199678365
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication date: 09/15/2013
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 464
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Leonore Davidoff is a Research Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex. She has held visiting professorships and fellowships in the US, Australia, Sweden, and several other European countries. Her main area of research is the relationship between the family and economic organization in the period of nascent capitalist development from around 1780 to 1920. She has also pioneered the history of gender relations and in 1987 she became Founding Editor of Gender and History.

Table of Contents

IntroductionPart I: Exploring Kin and their Kind1. Kin and Family: Expert Opinions and Popular Views2. Finding SiblingsPart II: The Lattice of Kinship: A Historical Case Study3. The People and the Setting4. The 'Long Family' and Its Decline5. A Like Unlike: Siblings in Childhood and Youth6. A Dance of Intimacy and Separation: Siblings in Adulthood7. Forgotten Figures: Aunts, Uncles, Nieces, Nephews, and CousinsPart III: Life's Longest Relationship: Essays on Sibling Themes8. Sibling Intimacy and the Question of Incest9. The Rise and Fall of Close Marriage10. Gender, Age, and Authority: The case of Anne, William Ewart, and Helen Gladstone11. Sibling Silences: The Freud Family12. Sibling LossConclusionBibliographyIndex
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