Fathers

Father Project "You don't need to be Superheroes": Insights into the diverse life situations of fathers

The project was initiated by the Chair of Work and Organization at the Institute of Sociology under the direction of Kim Bräuer. In the scientific literature and in the media, there are more and more reports about the modern active father who wants to be equally involved in the education and care of his children. In this project, we are interested in what moves fathers in Germany. The image of the modern father is contrasted with the traditional father as breadwinner. We would like to expand these two images of fathers and capture the diverse life situations of fathers.

To this end, we are conducting a quantitative online survey and an interview study. Participation in the online survey was possible until 31.10.2021.

We are interested in the different conceptions of fatherhood, possible practices for balancing work and family, and the individual challenges of fathers. So far, there are only a few studies that explicitly deal with the subjective perspective of fathers, which is why we put them in the focus of our study. We would like to learn how companies, political actors, fathers' networks and counseling centers can support fathers in meeting their demands on themselves as fathers, partners and, if applicable, as employees. We are interested in:

• what conceptions do men have of their fatherhood and their family life?
• how is care and work divided up in families?
• which problems are fathers confronted with?
• are there other types of fathers in addition to the traditional and the modern father?

Finally, we would like to address the special conditions of family life in times of the Covid-19 pandemic and look at the challenges and potentials of the lockdown within the family and in the workplace.