Families, family norms and policies: insights from the social sciences

Ondertitel:insights from the social sciences

Korte inhoud:This chapter aims to guide non-social scientists across the most relevant theoretical discussions that have shaped the debate on family reunification in the social sciences. After providing a brief genealogy of the study of family reunification in the fields of sociology, anthropology and political sciences, the chapter reviews three key debates. Firstly, it discusses how social scientists have questioned the supposed ‘neutrality’ of legal frameworks and shows how gendered, racialised and classed discourses that reflect the imagined boundaries of the nation state end up in family reunification laws and policies. Second, it discusses the relevance of the longstanding debate on the interplay between structure and agency to understand how subjects ‘do family’ in spite of policy obstacles and how discretion and moral evaluation play out in the implementation of family reunification policies. Finally, the chapter surveys the role of transnational dynamics in family reunification and explores the potential to further apply a transnational lens to grasp different dimensions of this socio-legal process.

ISBN:978-1-032-61454-0

Jaar van publicatie:2024

Trefwoorden:Sociology

Toegankelijkheid:Closed