Fatherhood, furniture and the inter-personal dynamics of working-class homes,c. 1870–1914

Strange, Julie-Marie

Abstract

Drawing on life stories, this article considers the relationship between urban working-class men and domesticity. Focusing on the spaces, objects and rites of men's homecoming, it questions perceptions of working-class men as peripheral to the inter-personal dynamics of family life and assesses how men's occupation of domestic space and time could be invested with emotive meaning by adult children. The article suggests that fathers were not simply figures of authority or masculine privilege but, rather, that the domestic interior was a space where men and their children navigated family roles and filial obligations to enjoy nurturing and intimate relationships more commonly associated with mothers. In doing so, the article stakes a claim to reconsider the idea that working-class homes were ‘a woman's place’ and view them more dynamically as inter-personal domains.

Citation

Strange, J.-M. (2013). Fatherhood, furniture and the inter-personal dynamics of working-class homes,c. 1870–1914. Urban History, 40(2), 271-286. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0963926813000060

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Feb 21, 2013
• Publication Date: 2013-05
• Deposit Date: Jan 24, 2025
• Journal: Urban History
• Print ISSN: 0963-9268
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-8706
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 40
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 271-286
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0963926813000060
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3349439