Male Kin Relationships: Grandfathers, Grandsons, and Generativity

Abstract

In a qualitative interview study of narratives grandsons told about their grandfathers (n = 14), we found evidence that grandsons perceived the role of grandfathers to be generative on several dimensions. Our analysis centered on the influence grandfathers had on the meanings grandsons made about fatherhood. All seven generative work domains, along with nine concepts describing grandfathers' generative efforts (consciousness of the family's lineage, skill sharing, meaningful emotional bonds, renewing bonds, who we are and what we do, sacred family spaces, culture of good fathering, multigenerational family generativity, and inter- and intragenerational improvement), were present in the data. Findings revealed the complexities of grandfather–grandson relationships and the impact grandsons reported their grandfathers had on them.

KEYWORDS:

• generative grandfathering
• generativity
• grandfathers
• men-in-families
• narrative

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Data for this study were collected with the help of grants from the Center for the Ethnography of Everyday Life, an Alfred P. Sloan Center for the Study of Working Families, the Rackham School of Graduate Studies, and the Department of Sociology, all at the University of Michigan.