I am excited to be guest editing the June 2024 issue of the soc review magazine with the wonderful Melissa Nolas. If you are interested in contributing to this issue please submit your pitch to magazine@thesociologicalreview.org by 7 March 2024. If your pitch is accepted, your finished article must be submitted by 28 March 2024.
The Call!
Children are mysterious creatures with imperfect parents. Manuals that provide instructions on how to parent properly typically offer a strange mix of good intentions, a potential set-up for failure, and perhaps a kernel of something that “works” for a limited time. As a result, many parents are bewildered, asking themselves, “What is going on?” and “Why don’t I know what to do about it?”
This issue dips into the murky waters of parenting – with the aim of humanising it. We are looking for contributions that reflect on the parenting journey of figuring things out while tenuously holding the reins, or at least pretending to. We will seek to highlight the hilarious common ground while looking honestly at some of the challenges parents face. We aim to capture everyday moments of parenting in their full humanity and range of emotions.
We invite contributions from social scientists researching parenting, childhood and family lives, and artists, curators and community workers working on parenting or related topics. Articles are likely to centre research on parenting, but may also offer autobiographical and sociologically imaginative reflections on contributors’ own parenting experiences. We also welcome proposals for articles in a range of formats, including contributions that incorporate images, audio and/or video.
Suggested topics include:
Caregivers’ experiences of the transition to parenthood, and what coping looks like
Parents’ networks of support and sanity
How parents locate themselves in the world around them during matrescence and patrescence
The fantasy versus the reality of parenting, and embarrassing parenting moments
Intergenerational parenting experiences: how our own childhoods are re-examined in the act of parenting
Feelings of guilt, shame and being a “good enough” parent
Social media and parenting
The successes and joys of parenting