The Marshall Lecture - Time and Family Life by Professor Julia Brannen  Event

The talk takes as its starting point the importance of the historical context in which people lived and the way that the history of individuals and groups is also carried forward into the present and the future. It considers the concept of generation and its usefulness for sociological understanding and imagination even when the concept of generation does not itself provide a lens through which individuals make sense of their world.

The talk will refer to the intergenerational family research, including cases of migrant groups, in which the speaker has engaged over the past ten years. In looking at intergenerational relations across family generations it will examine the proposition that history and biography interact in a dynamic way.  The suggestion will be made that the process of returning to intergenerational family data heightens the importance of  contextualisation, both for primary and secondary analysis.

Julia Brannen is Professor of Sociology of the Family, Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London and an academician of the Academy of Social Science. She has researched and written about the family lives of parents, children and young people in Britain and Europe, working families and food, and intergenerational relations. She has a particular interest in methodology including mixed methods, biographical approaches and comparative research. Recent books include: The Handbook of Social Research Methods (Sage 2010) Work, Family and Organisations in Transition: A European Perspective (Policy 2009), Transitions to Parenthood in Europe: A comparative life course perspective (Policy 2012).