Undercurrents of Divorce

Published in 1999. Despite considerable comment about divorce reform and the post-divorce family, in the press and in academia, by professionals and politicians, much has been left unsaid. There are 'undercurrents' of divorce which are not visible and are not discussed because they do not fit into the dominant discursive framework for talk about divorce. This book brings these undercurrents to the surface and does two things. It explains how and why aspects of divorce and the lives of those divorcing, have become marginalized in professional and political discussion and it makes visible the practical and legal effects of such exclusion. It argues that there are good policy reasons for this particular socio-legal critique at this time, as the implementation of the Family Law Act 1996 gets underway.

Contents: Introduction: The Family Law Act 1996 in context, Shelley Day Sclater and Christine Piper. Children and Parents: In whose best interests? Theorizing family life following parental separation or divorce, Bren Neale and Carol Smart; Children and divorce: a private affair?, Jeremy Roche; The wishes and feelings of the child, Christine Piper; Contact, conflict and risk, Felicity Kaganas. Husbands and Wives: From women's emancipation to sex war?; Men, heterosexuality and the politics of divorce, Richard Collier; Divorce: a psychodynamic perspective, Joanne Brown and Shelley Day Sclater; Experiences of divorce, Shelley Day Sclater; Divorce and domestic violence, Felicity Kaganas and Christine Piper; Dividing the family assets, Alison Diduck. Conclusions: Changing divorce, Christine Piper and Shelley Day Sclater; Index.

Shelley Day Sclater is a Senior Lecturer in Psychological Studies at the University of East London. Christine Piper is a Senior Lecturer in the Law Department at Brunel University.