Here and Now,There and Then: Nostalgia as a Time and Space Phenomenon

This paper provides an overview of nostalgia focusing on the ways in which the nexus of time and space has been theorized. The meta‐analysis presented here highlights the complex, recursive, and nuanced features of the nostalgic experience, suggesting that nostalgia is not only directed toward the past, but also the future.     

Time,Space, and Memories

ABSTRACT

This article traces the ways that gendered and generational family practices were remembered across time in the context of working-class homes in Victorian Britain. Two everyday domestic objects—the father's chair and the grandfather clock—are examined and analyzed, drawing on John Gillis' work on ritualized family spaces and contested notions of time (Gillis 1996). Both these objects resonate with the contested use of domestic space and the layered meanings of family time in working-class lives, not least because both are often remembered in autobiographical accounts of home and family. The special place of the father's chair highlighted the feminizing of the home and accompanying development of rituals to welcome and ensconce the father in his domestic domain each day. The sound of clocks underpinned the bringing together of industrial time, separating leisure and work for those at school or employment away from home, and at the same time conveying the cyclical nature of family life and its everyday routines from day to day, year to year, and generation to generation. Memories of chairs and clocks embedded in autobiographies offer important evidence about the images, sounds, and sensory experiences that resonated most powerfully when remembering and composing the hierarchies and tensions of working-class family life.     

Doing Time in Space: Line‐Joining Rules and Resultant Morphologies1

Waiting lines are spatial configurations of people that store information about time of arrival until it is recapitulated as order of service. Someone joining a line has an interest in assuming a position that will be seen as recognizably “in line,” particularly by those arriving later. When physical constraints are few—such as in 30th Street Station, Philadelphia, the site for this research—this is normally accomplished through conformity with the line’s recent trajectory. However, conflict between normally congruent line‐joining rules can occasion a sharp turn; an example is when a self‐identifying group joins the line, muddying the geometry and creating uncertainty as to what should happen next. Further, the normal rules for line formation can misfire, giving rise to mutant lines with multiple “tails” and an impaired capacity for encoding time into space. Alternatives to waiting lines are considered and judged less efficient and more likely to be judged unfair, particularly given the expectation that rewards will be proportional to investments.     

Technology,Gender and Time: A Contribution to the Debate

Using the data collected from research carried out at two Portuguese universities, this article highlights the way university lecturers currently deal with space and time. Their professional activity is not externally subjected to a specific time geometry that defines their working day. Teaching and researching time–spaces are basically task oriented. Furthermore, university lecturers are increasingly requested to perform tasks in very short time periods in order to secure financial support. To a certain extent, this pressure upon their work is facilitated by the use of technology. However, technology also causes a profound reconfiguration of working times and spaces, especially because it allows lecturers to work at any time from anywhere. This not only renders university physical spaces and times virtual, but it also leads to the colonization of several other time–spaces of their social lives. This article analyses the ambivalence and difficulty of managing time–spaces, as described by the lecturers themselves, with the objective of providing a more accurate awareness of the implications of technology on their lives, as well as the hazards of the progressive externalization of academic work, particularly for women.     

Time,Space and Gender: Understanding ‘Problem’ Behaviour in Young Children

The following article reports on a small‐scale, exploratory study of aggressive and ‘problem’ behaviour in pre‐school children. This project was conceived in the wider context of anxieties about childhood and New Labour’s policy focus on ‘anti‐social’ behaviour in children. Based on interviews with nursery staff and parents in addition to participant observation undertaken in nursery playrooms, this article examines the relevance of time, space and gender for understanding problem behaviour in young children. Taking a social constructionist perspective and drawing on Foucault's ideas in particular, it examines the social processes which regulate and normalise behaviour in young children. © 2006 The Author(s) Journal compilation © 2006 National Children's Bureau.     

Mothers' Time,the Parenting Package,and Links to Healthy Child Development

Studies show that mothers' time in particular activities with children is positively associated with child well‐being, but results are mixed regarding associations between child outcomes and the sheer amount of time that mothers spend with children. Using data from three waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement (N = 2,622), the authors assess whether gains from mothers' total time with children vary by the quality of mothers' other investments in children or the “parenting package.” Mother–child shared time was associated with children's broad reading scores and adolescents' externalizing behavior, but mothers' other parenting investments did not moderate these associations. Results were robust to alternative measures of mothers' time and to the incorporation of earlier assessments of child academic and behavior problems. Parenting investments may be indicative of the quality of children's home environments, but do not magnify gains from mother–child shared time.     

Responsibility and Privacy — Ethical Aspects of Using GPS to Track Children

With GPS technology, children can be monitored 24 h a day throughout their childhood and teens. In spite of the advantages in terms of safety and security, there are ethical problems with this. In this article, some of these are discussed. First, the concept of parental responsibility is explored and discussed in the context of GPS and children. Second, against the background of psychological research, it is argued that it is not conducive for children's sense of responsibility to be constantly monitored. Third, the question whether children have a right to privacy is discussed. It is concluded that due to the considerable uncertainty concerning the effects of constant monitoring as well as the ethical problems discussed, we ought to adopt a cautious attitude to using GPS to track children.     

One’s Enough for Now: Children,Disability, and the Subsequent Childbearing of Mothers

This mixed‐methods study explores the subsequent childbearing of mothers whose firstborn children have disabilities. I make use of matched data from the 1993 NHIS ‐ 1995 NSFG (N = 4,468) to determine the effects of child disability on the hazard of a second birth and draw on a series of 24 in‐depth interviews that explore the lived experience of raising children with disabilities. My findings suggest that mothers whose firstborn children are disabled have a lower hazard of a second birth. This reduction stems from mothers’ recognition that children with disabilities have extensive needs and that, in order to meet those needs and maximize their potential, they need to make strategic choices such as delaying subsequent childbearing.     

Comment on Cross,Fine, Jones,and Walsh (2012): We Are Now on the Same Page

Role conflict has been an issue in the intervention of child abuse cases since the beginning of the alliance drawn between the legal and mental health professions. In child abuse cases, clearly defined roles will prevent an attack on the process, thereby providing successful interventions to protect children. The child advocacy center concept is one of the best ways to meld the two professional functions into a cohesive approach to those interventions.     

Single,Cohabitating, and Married Mothers’ Time With Children

Utilizing the 2003 and 2004 American Time Use Survey (ATUS), this study examines the relationship between family structure and maternal time with children among 4,309 married mothers and 1,821 single mothers with children less than 13 years of age. Single mothers spend less time with their children than married mothers, though the differences are not large. Marital status and living arrangement differences in time with children largely disappear or single mothers engage in more child care than married mothers after controls for socioeconomic status and other characteristics are introduced. Thus, less maternal time with children appears to be mainly attributable to the disadvantaged social structural location of single mothers rather than different proclivities toward mothering between married and single mothers.     

Child Protection in Voluntary Sports Clubs in Germany — Factors Fostering Engagement in the Prevention of Sexual Violence

Based on the theoretical framework of organisational capacity and using data from an online survey of 8571 sports clubs in Germany, this study investigates clubs’ engagement towards child protection and the prevention of sexual violence. Only half of the clubs indicate that the prevention of sexual violence is a relevant topic for them, and on average, the clubs have implemented between two and three prevention measures. Pertaining to organisational capacity, human resource capacity (e.g. share of volunteers, share of women on the board) and structural capacity (e.g. club culture) exhibit significant effects on clubs’ activation towards child protection.     

The Widening Education Gap in Developmental Child Care Activities in the United States, 1965–2013

Past research shows that time spent in developmental care activities has been increasing in the United States over recent decades, yet little is known about how this increase is distributed across parents with different levels of education. Have children born into different socioeconomic groups been receiving increasingly equal developmental care from their parents, or is the distribution of parental time investment becoming more unequal? To answer this question, the author analyzed the American Heritage Time Use Study (1965–2013) and showed that the gap between high‐ and low‐educated parents' time investment in developmental child care activities has widened. An increasing absence of fathers in households with low‐educated mothers has exacerbated the trend. This study documents growing inequality in parental time inputs in developmentally salient child care activities in the United States.     

Child‐Care Usage and Mother‐Infant “Quality Time”

Mothers' time‐use patterns were compared in families in which infants spent more than 30 hours per week in child care (In‐Care group; n= 143) versus 0 hours per week (At‐Home group; n= 183) from birth to 6 months of age. In‐Care group mothers spent about 12 fewer hours per week interacting with their infants, for about 32% less time; fathers of these infants were more involved in caregiving. The groups did not differ in the quality of mother‐infant interaction. In the In‐Care group, quantity of interaction was related to greater separation anxiety and concerns about effects of maternal employment. Time‐use data were not related to child outcomes at 15 months of age. Results suggest that the effect of extensive time spent apart on the quantity and quality of mother‐infant interaction may be smaller than anticipated.     

‘I Eat the Vegetables because I Have Grown them with My Own Hands’: Children's Perspectives on School Gardening and Vegetable Consumption

Inadequate vegetable consumption is a global public health concern related to numerous health risks. A promising intervention to increase children's vegetable consumption is school gardening, although earlier studies have shown mixed results. This study explores how gardening might contribute to changed attitudes towards eating vegetables from a child's perspective. Findings are based on qualitative research with children in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We reflect on how children enact agency regarding their vegetables. Results show that children report that changes occur in their attitudes towards vegetables as they not only eat more vegetables but also advocate the consumption of vegetables at home.     

The Arrow of Time in the Space of the Present: Temporality as Methodological and Theoretical Dimension in Child Research

The concern of this article is that some prevailing theoretical dualisms in child research may be traced back to a split between time and space, and the argument is that securing a temporal as well as a spatial dimension in the research methodology may allow to transgress such dualisms. The article analyses how an insufficient account of the temporal dimension in different theoretical moments in childhood studies has led to theoretical dualisms between agency and development and between change and continuity in the process of subject formation. Confronting these theoretical dualisms with a qualitative longitudinal study of children indicates that the two sides of each dualism may be understood as interdependent dimensions that co‐constitute subjectivity. The article suggests that temporal and spatial dimensions may be easier to integrate if they are conceived of as two interacting temporal modes, one connected to linear time (the arrow of time) and one connected to non‐linear processes (significations in the space of the present). Theoretically, this is elaborated on with a hermeneutic interpretation of Henri Bergson and Freud's thinking about time and space.     

Time and Work–Life Balance: The Roles of ‘Temporal Customization’ and ‘Life Temporality’

This article poses a challenge to the orthodox binary, conceptualization of work–life balance only made possible by relying on the widespread ‘clock time’ worldview, which understands employment practices in terms of the basic time = money equation. In particular, it is the balance metaphor which relies on a quantification of both work and life in order to make sense and can therefore be seen to be based on an understanding of time as a measurable and value‐able unit. This article seeks to begin the exercise of examining the concept of work–life balance through a broader concept of the temporal dimension than simply limited quantitative notions. Two temporal themes are reported from a study which identified employees who had customized their working pattern to suit the various and multi‐dimensional facets of their lifestyles and thereby successfully improved their work–life balance. Participants in this study demonstrated that an improved work–life balance is more about a mind‐set that refuses to be dominated by a work temporality and is determined to create ‘me time’ rather than e.g. simply choosing a four day week or a part‐time job. It is argued that the notion of work–life balance is more usefully conceptualized within a broader notion of ‘livingscapes’ which contain both elements of work and life and that as researchers, our challenge must be to reflect the complexity of this weave within our analyses of individuals’ work–life balance.     

Educational Gradients in Parents' Child‐Care Time Across Countries, 1965–2012

Parental time with children leads to posive child outcomes. Some studies have reported a posive educational gradient: More educated parents devote more time to children than other parents. Furthermore, some research finds that parental child care increased over time. Less certain is whether more educated parents increased their time more than less educated ones did, whether parenting trends for mothers and fathers are the same, and whether observed patterns characterize all Western countries or only some. Hypotheses inspired by theories of social diffusion, class differentiation, and ideologies of child rearing are tested with time‐use data for 11 Western countries between 1965 and 2012. For both mothers and fathers, results indicated a widespread educational gradient and an increase in child‐care time. In a number of countries, the posive educational gradient increased; nowhere was it dished. Thus, the advantages of intensive parenting continued to accrue to the well‐educated elite.     

Time,Money and the Gender Order: Work Orientations and Working‐Time Preferences in Britain

In the context of economic restructuring and the reorganization of working time, the question of working‐time preferences is emerging as an important component of both academic and policy debates. Much of the debate about preferences is based upon conjuncture or inadequate indicators, often drawing oppositional models of gender differences in preferences which neglect the similarities between the sexes. This article starts by developing a framework for interpreting preference formation and change, with particular emphasis on the societal institutional system and existing national working‐time regime in which individuals' behaviour and preferences are located. This framework is then applied to highlight the particular features of the national working‐time regime and associated ‘gender order’ in Britain, followed by an analysis of gender similarities and differences in work orientations and working‐time preferences in this country. The results show that work orientations and working‐time preferences are related to labour market circumstances for both sexes. Similarity between women and men in the influences of workplace variables coexists with a gender‐differentiated effect of household circumstances on the types of work schedules preferred; childcare and domestic responsibilities figure more largely in women's accounts of their preferences than in men's. For both, however, the most popular reform would be increased time sovereignty in the organization of their work schedules.     

‘From awareness to practice’: children,domestic violence and child welfare

This paper traces the development of social care practice in relation to child witnesses of domestic violence. It suggests that this development has been dominated by subsuming the needs of these children into a child protection process. The paper outlines how this has led to significant (but often unclear) legal and policy initiatives which have failed, as yet, to be translated into practice. The paper argues that there are a number of important reasons why child witnesses of domestic violence should not always be assumed to need the response of a child protection system and that a future practice, legal and policy response should be based on a wider understanding of their needs. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.