Overview
Provides a conceptual framework of divorce biography to understand divorce as a process shaped by choices, communities and contexts
Offers a nuanced perspective on divorce by discussing both the precarious and productive aspects of the experience
Challenges conventional understandings of family configurations and practices
Enriches the sociological discussion on individualisation, family, friendship, personal life and intimacy
Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
Keywords
- Authenticity and affirmation in divorce in Singapore
- Choice, connectedness and context of divorce
- Divorce biographies in Singapore
- Divorce in Singapore
- Family in Singapore
- Family policies on divorce in Singapore
- Individualisation and personal communities
- Intimacy and belonging in divorce in Singapore
- Self-responsibility and productivity in divorce in Singapore
About this book
This book presents a sociological account on marital dissolution that engages and extends theorisations on individualisation and the contemporary organisation of personal relationships to discuss how the experience of divorce might not be all debilitating but on the contrary, could provide opportunities for productivity, self-responsibility and relationship formation. Using Singaporean divorcees’ narrative accounts, the book explores how divorcees shape and construct what the author refers to as, a divorce biography, to end their unsatisfying marriages, cope with the crisis, negotiate the associated risks, organise post-divorce personal communities and make future plans. It uncovers how divorcees navigate their divorce biographies within the economic, policy and social context they are located in and examines the conditions that facilitate or hinder the pursuit of productivity in different facets of their post-divorce lives. Far from a standard story of divorce, this book presents the diversity and complexity of Singaporean divorce biographies. The research challenges negative discourses associated with divorce and offers a more nuanced perspective by discussing both the precarious and productive aspects of the experience. More importantly, it provides a critical discussion on the limited definition of family prevalent in Singaporean society, and shows how post-divorce family life and practices continue to thrive despite the rupture of marriage.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Sharon Ee Ling QUAH (PhD) is a family sociologist whose research focuses on divorce, family, personal relationships, individualisation, gender and transnational and alternative intimacies. She is a Research Fellow with the Changing Family in Asia research cluster at National University of Singapore (NUS), Asia Research Institute (ARI). At NUS ARI, she is conducting a new research project on transnational divorce in Singapore as the Principal Investigator with a research grant awarded by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (Singapore Government). Prior to this appointment, she was a postdoctoral fellow with the same research cluster at NUS ARI. She was recently conferred the Doctor of Philosophy degree from The University of Sydney in April 2013.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Perspectives on Marital Dissolution
Book Subtitle: Divorce Biographies in Singapore
Authors: Sharon Ee Ling Quah
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-465-8
Publisher: Springer Singapore
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2015
Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-287-464-1Published: 20 May 2015
Softcover ISBN: 978-981-10-1233-4Published: 29 October 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-981-287-465-8Published: 08 May 2015
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VIII, 147
Number of Illustrations: 5 b/w illustrations
Topics: Family, Social Policy