We have been working on this project for a few years, so Cláudia Casimiro and I are delighted to see our edited book out with Policy Press: “Connecting Families? Information & Communication Technologies, Generations, and the Life Course“. Our experience with the publisher has been excellent, and we were very proud to work with a not-for-profit academic publisher.
This collection brings together ground-breaking sociological research on the relationship between family life and Information & Communication Tech (ICTs), within a generational and life course perspective. It includes chapters from five continents, addressing a major gap: namely, the lack of a critical understanding of the interplay of ICTs & family dynamics across regions and contexts. We have a list of exceptional contributors – check out the Table of Contents here.
Professor Barry Wellman (Canada) honoured us with an outstanding foreword, Professor Elizabeth Silva (UK) with a thought-provoking afterword. Our Intro – explaining the aims, approach, title, and sections – can be found here.
In addition, we were honoured to be selected for an “Authors meet critics” session at the XIX Congress of the International Sociological Association (ISA) that was just held in Toronto, Canada. We took the opportunity to launch our book there and, based on the overall contributions, discuss some overarching reflections on the topic with the audience. In particular, two main points emerged in the discussion:
1. Understanding ICTs & family requires numerous tools to grasp changes and continuities in its interplay.
2. We need to overcome binary assumptions of technology impact (positive vs. negative) and technologically deterministic views: family and ICTs shape each other, offering opportunities and challenges for care, intimacy, support, solidarity, work-family balance, etc. Context is critical and the ? in the title wanted to capture that.
Our full presentation is here.
We will be tweeting about relevant research, events, conferences, publications @FamiliesAndTech
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Praise
Connecting Families…. offers a vital and timely contribution to the multivalent links of ICTs with families. That its backbone is life course gives an additional bonus of insight and perspective.
Susan A. McDaniel, Canada Research Chair in Global Population & Life Course, President of the ISA Family Research Committee, University of Lethbridge, Canada
Well-written, thorough and up to date, this is an essential book for both graduate and post-graduate students and all professionals who wish to improve their knowledge on ICT and family relationships today.
Fausto Amaro, University of Lisbon