Family Rhythms ─ The Changing Textures of Family Life in Ireland

Family rhythms is the first textbook of its kind with an explicit focus on Ireland and Irish families. Uniquely, the book draws on original in-depth interviews with people of different ages to introduce contemporary scholarship on the family and to illustrate how Irish families have adapted and changed over time. With chapters on childhood, adolescence, parenting and grandparenthood, the book shows the resilience of families in different social and historical contexts. Each chapter includes a discussion of the challenges that face families and how social research can inform policy makers' responses.

Family rhythms is a comprehensive, user-friendly textbook that offers a variety of strategies for engaging readers, including direct encounters with qualitative data through the use of classroom oriented discussion panels. Synopses of landmark Irish studies are included throughout, bringing the insights from these key studies together in a single textbook for the first time.

Jane Gray is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Maynooth University and Research Associate of the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis

Ruth Geraghty is Data Curator for the Children's Research Network for Ireland and Northern Ireland at the Centre for Effective Services

David Ralph is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Trinity College, Dublin