Review of: Martina Heitkötter, Karin Jurczyk, Andreas Lange, Uta Meier-Gräwe (Hg.): Zeit für Beziehungen? Zeit und Zeitpolitik für Familien. Opladen u.a.: Verlag Barbara Budrich 2009.

Abstract

The collected volume, which broadly examines time usage in families and the structure of time-related (family) politics, offers numerous analyses on the current state of families. Topics range from the time-based structure of the daily meal routine, to the pressure caused by lengthening work hours, to what forms of reconcilement make possible an abundance of time for families and when these are applied. Throughout, interdisciplinary perspectives on time are brought together with family research. The editors make an explicit claim for an expansion of the family concept, reducing this for the volume, however, primarily to the classical family, which constitutes itself mainly in the existence of children. The conclusion is that the manner time is dealt with and subjectively received is strongly dependent on the level of education and income of the (adult) family members. Additionally, the very gender-specific use of time – a claim that is very well established – brings home, yet again, that employment plays an exceptional role in the modernization of gender relations. The collected volume is made convincing through its comprehensiveness and richness of details in the presentation of research results, which reach beyond the spheres of daily life and employment to examine also political constitution and management of time. The question as to how an analysis of time in different family or living configurations can be developed free of traditional images of gender and family remains unanswered.