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The article compares men's biographies and fatherhood across two generations among the Irish and the Polish, who represent different waves of migration to Britain, focusing on two chains of fathers and sons. It examines different aspects of transmission between fathers and sons and, in the context of migration, the part that generational experience played in how men identify (or not) with their own fathers and repeated or changed their fatherhood practices. A comparative approach suggests the importance of taking account of the life course, the historical moment of migration, and the ways in which migration complicates intergenerational family relations by creating structural and relational ambivalences as the younger generation seeks to make its own mark. However ambivalences are managed and often coexist with solidaristic relations in terms of providing reciprocal support across the generations and in the fathers' identification with their fathers' strong work ethic and provider role. As fathers they are more involved in their children's lives than their fathers were but their employment conditions typically continue to constrain this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on data from an intergenerational study of fatherhood to consider how fatherhood has changed and how employment conditions and occupational status shape fatherhood, particularly their involvement with their children and, via an analysis of four cases, continuities and discontinuities are identified across the family generations. The study involved three generational chains of men which included grandfathers, sons and grandsons from three ‘ethnicities’; those of white British origin, Polish origin and Irish origin. While most agreed that fatherhood had changed, in particular the way fathers communicate and express affection to their children, other changes were also seen as important – increased material consumption, changes in children's lives and child-focused parenting. On the other hand, employment commitment and working conditions continue to constrain men's involvement with their children in both generations. A different pattern was also evident among a minority of the fathers who modified their employment to take on some childcare responsibilities, while a handful in low-status jobs had wives who were the main earners in the household, a situation that enabled them to take on a significant role in childcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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