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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Sibling Relationships: Being Connected and Related

Eva GulløvEva GulløvIda Wentzel Winther

subject

FeelingDynamics (music)Phenomenonmedia_common.quotation_subjectSociologyObligationSiblingNuclear familySocial psychologyFamily lifeQualitative researchmedia_common

description

This chapter is about siblingship and the necessary analytical considerations when studying this phenomenon. Inspired by family and childhood research, and drawing on an empirical qualitative study in Denmark exploring children’s ways of understanding and practising siblingship, we argue for an approach that carefully examines the form of family and the everyday practices and emotional dynamics constituting contemporary sibling relationships. Ordinary undertakings, such as sharing objects, commuting between households, doing chores and spending spare time together, evoke composite feelings of togetherness and obligation, relatedness and doubt, frustration and longing which reflect tensions between ideals and realities of family life. There is a need for a new analytic approach to siblingship moving beyond conceptualisations rooted in the nuclear family model to reflect the various compositions of contemporary families.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73306-3_15