Parenting after a break-up: rigid institutions and the sociology of emotions

Mgr. Eva Hejzlarová, Ph.D.

Charles University | Faculty of social sciences

Wie fühlt sich Demokratie an: Soziologie in Zeiten der gesellschaftlichen Polarisierung

Mgr. Eva Hejzlarová, Ph.D.
Charles University | Faculty of social sciences


Parenting after a break-up: rigid institutions and the sociology of emotions 

 

Parenting after a parental break-up is fundamentally shaped by child custody laws specific to a particular country. My talk will present a Czech case with a special focus on parenting after break-up or divorce from the perspective of the emotional regulation and emotional labor devoted by the parents in taking care of their children. These emotional practices are directed toward their loved ones and government institutions (mainly courts and child protective services). These different sorts of emotional Interactions with the government institutions are the central topic of the study. Based on 16 interviews with informants raising children in joint or shared custody, the analysis focuses on situations where child custody and childcare decisions were made. The study presents evidence on the kinds of relations in which emotional labor and regulation are performed and what they entail, the different strategies chosen by parents either to confront their private relations with public oversight by courts and child protective services or to avoid such confrontation. In the interplay of both individual and mutual parents´ strategies and the regulating and controlling institutions, the importance of incorporating the study of emotions into a sociological scholarship is demonstrated.

Eva M. Hejzlarová is an Assistant professor at the Department of Public and Social Policy at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University. Her work focuses on the analysis of public policies and policy design, emphasizing its interpretive grasp. Her current research focuses on the lives of single-parent families in the context of pandemic measures. She is the Associate Editor of the Journal of Family Studies

 

Mittwoch, 08. Juni 2022, 17 Uhr Institut für Soziologie, Seminarraum 3