Researching Intimacy In Families

Researching Intimacy in Families introduces and invigorates understandings of intimacy and family relationships through an incisive engagement with the sociology of intimacy and interpersonal relationships in contemporary Western society and the methods used to research families, children and personal life.

Using original data the book opens out the theoretical debate on intimacy and illustrates the potential of qualitative mixed-methods in capturing the richness and complexity of family life. Jacqui Gabb brings to life methodology teaching through extensive illustrations of methods in the context of families and childhood research, including innovatory methods and approaches designed and piloted by the author.

This book is an invaluable research resource for scholars and students in the fields of intimacy and sexuality, families, children and relationships research, and more widely to those in sociology, gender studies, and qualitative research methods. It covers an extensive range of scholarship from Europe, America and Australia.

Review: Joint Winner of the British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Memorial Prize 2009 'The book is an excellent systematisation of both the debates shaping the field of family studies and the ones concerning methods to explore relational life and sensitive topics...highly recommended, especially to postgraduates and new researchers.' - Laura Centemeri, Sociological Research Online 'This is a very fine piece of work, well written and enjoyable with a sociological imagination at its heart...The book should be read widely, not only by those with an interest in families and intimate lives, but by anyone with an interest in reading good sociological thinking at work.' - BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize Judging Committee