Charles, N., C. A. Davies, et al. (2008). Families in transition: social change, family formation, and kin relationships. Bristol, Policy Press.
This book is a community re-study which captures longitudinal social change within a particular locality, Swansea, over the past fifty years. The original study was carried out in the 1960s, and the follow-up study in the early 21st century, examining how family lives have changed in the context of social, economic and cultural changes over the past half century. The book is ambitious in its methods, taking a mixed method approach that echoes the original study, involving a 1000 household survey as well as ethnographic research in four localities. The research findings suggest that despite social, economic and cultural changes, these changes have not significantly transformed family relations in terms of greater equality or weaker kinship ties. The book explores various dimensions of family life, including younger and older generations, family networks across different households, and the relationship between geographical mobility and kinship ties. The book also raises an interesting methodological question about researching families and communities because of gender differences in responses, with more women than men who were open to talking about family and community. Other books which offer related insights on changes in family life within communities are Phillipson et al* and Mumford and Power*, and another interesting community re-study is Lassiter et al*.