1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910416147203321

Autore

Rasell Jennifer

Titolo

Care of the State : Relationships, Kinship and the State in Children’s Homes in Late Socialist Hungary / / by Jennifer Rasell

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2020

ISBN

3-030-49484-5

Edizione

[1st ed. 2020.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xi, 169 pages)

Disciplina

362.7320943909045

300

Soggetti

Ethnology

Social groups

Family

Political sociology

Social Anthropology

Sociology of Family, Youth and Aging

Political Sociology

Russian, Soviet, and East European History

Russia History

Europe, Eastern History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Care as a Frame for Understanding the Mutual Constitution of State and Kinship -- 2. Not a Fading Problem: Child Protection from the 1950s to the 1980s -- 3. Negotiating Care Between Parents and State Officials -- 4. The Continuing Family Relations of Children in Care -- 5. Care in the Children’s Home and Wider Circles of Belonging -- 6. Conclusions: The Processes of Producing Kinship and the State in Residential Care.

Sommario/riassunto

Care of the State blends archival, oral history, interview and ethnographic data to study the changing relationships and kinship ties of children who lived in state residential care in socialist Hungary. It advances anthropological understanding of kinship and the workings of



the state by exploring how various state actors and practices shaped kin ties. Jennifer Rasell shows that norms and processes in the Hungarian welfare system placed symbolic weight on nuclear families whilst restricting and devaluing other possible ties for children in care, in particular to siblings, friends, welfare workers and wider communities. In focussing on care practices both within and outside kin relations, Rasell shows that children valued relationships that were produced through personal attention, engagement and emotional connections. Highlighting the diversity of experiences in state care in socialist Hungary, this book’s nuanced insights represent an important contribution to research on children’s well-being and family policies in Central-Eastern Europe and beyond.