Stepfamilies

This book is a major new study into one of the fastest growing family formations in the Western World - stepfamilies. Drawing on recent developments within the sociology of family life, it provides an analysis of the extent of family connection and solidarity within different stepfamily networks. In contrast to much research on stepfamilies, its focus is not only on issues of stepfamily organization within households when children are young. Rather it examines how stepfamily relationships develop and change across different life phases, in the process considering relationships across as well as within particular households. In this its approach is to focus on 'family as kinship' as much as 'family as household'. The analysis in the book is developed through a series of case studies of people's stepfamily experiences which are used to explore how the construction of family connection develops within different stepfamily relationships