ABSTRACT
Alongside the child, developmental psychology constituted the woman as mother as its key object of concern and intervention. But its gaze has currently shifted to include men, men as fathers. This chapter explores why and how this has happened, and evaluates the adequacy of the models by which fatherhood is investigated. Moreover, irrespective of whether the `new man' is old or new, real or ®ctional, the paradigms for studying him could certainly do with an overhaul and there are signi®cant policy consequences of their conceptual and methodological occlusions. Further, the philosophical and methodological limitations of this work go beyond the study of fathers to throw into relief more general research assumptions and practices.
