Yeo, Ben Eliot (2024) Fathers, superheroes and children : a psychosocial investigation of fatherhood. DPsych thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.
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Abstract
This study investigates the neglected area of the subjectivity of fatherhood. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with fathers who have a child aged 3-6 interested in superheroes. The psychosocial study explores fathers’ responses to their young child’s interest considering both their emotional expressions and discursive strategies. This research has two main findings: i) Superheroes are a site for temporal, emotional and cultural expressions of fathers’ subjectivities. ii) A psychosocial framework enables new and more complex conceptualisations of fatherhood and brings new insights to the existing literature. The data analysis identifies three core themes. The father time theme highlights how fathers’ subjectivities are woven together from temporal threads including childhood memories, their earlier and present-day fatherhood experiences. The waves and walls of emotion theme identifies how fathers move between different emotional positions and experiences. Discourse analysis finds contrasts between the emotional intensity in fathers’ childhood memories and the emotional distancing in fathers’ present-day subjectivities. The cultural world of superheroes theme highlights the importance of the toys and objects associated with superheroes, exploring father’s emotional investments in these objects and how fathers use culture to position themselves in the social world. This study considers how fathers’ subjectivities intersect with the temporal, emotional and cultural domains linked to the cultural world of superheroes. By opening up the complex nature of fathers’ subjectivities, this research expands the existing fatherhood literature. Rather than turning away from emotions which is a prominent feature of the fatherhood literature, this study offers a complex analysis of fathers’ emotional positions and experiences.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Copyright Holders: | The copyright of this thesis rests with the author, who asserts his/her right to be known as such according to the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. No dealing with the thesis contrary to the copyright or moral rights of the author is permitted. |
| Depositing User: | Acquisitions And Metadata |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Jan 2025 18:02 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Apr 2025 10:54 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/54769 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.18743/PUB.00054769 |
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