Introduction

In this third part of the book we move away from the narrative and chronology of emerging social and historical processes surrounding marriage and domestic life over four decades. We now consider some of the underlying themes which have come to preoccupy family researchers in recent decades-notions of the public and the private, of institution and relationship, of structure and agency and of intervention in family life. We look at the role of ideology in shaping how we make sense of family life and experiences within it. We consider some of the differing frameworks for understanding marriage and the intimate world, particularly those deriving from sociological, psychodynamic and social-work theories. In much of this, from whichever perspective, the concern is with ways in which the private experiences encountered in marital and family relationships are shaped and given meaning in relation to external events and circumstances.