ABSTRACT
The father’s roles are a product of both recent and remote history. Instead of viewing social change solely as an immediate impetus for the transition from traditional to contemporary fathering, we have seen throughout this book that historical events and the evolution of cultures over generations, centuries, and even millennia all continue to affect the father’s roles. The word “change” appeared frequently in every chapter and over 300 times in this volume, underscoring that fathering has changed and continues to evolve everywhere in the world. Such changes can be interpreted as negative or positive, and may occur at different paces, depending on a number of factors in each society. In fact, the sub-titles of four chapters (those on China, Japan, Brazil, and UK) all invoked images of change or transition. Thus, the most representative answer to the question, “What characterizes fathers cross-culturally?” would be “Change.”
