title: On gifts, payments and disputes: divorce and changing family structures in contemporary Britain.
abstract: "This article considers ethnographic data collected among divorcing men and women in Britain and adopts a Maussian view of exchange in order to understand the cultural dimensions of divorce in more depth. I argue that divorcing men and women express discontinuities and continuities in their relationships by means of particular kinds of exchanges. What is of particular interest is the way that former husbands and wives place discrepant and conflicting constructions on the transfer of money and material goods between them and between themselves and their children. The article illustrates these points by examining the conflicts between fathers, mothers and their children over the emotional and economic significance of particular transactions."
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001519:Behavior; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care; D002668:Child Rearing; D003710:Demography; D019049:Developed Countries; D004243:Divorce; D004467:Economics; D005060:Europe; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005195:Family Relations; D005220:Fathers; D008393:Marriage; D009035:Mothers; D010290:Parents; D011153:Population; D011154:Population Characteristics; D011584:Psychology; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Age Factors; Behavior; Child; Child Rearing; Child Support; Demographic Factors; Developed Countries; Divorce; Economic Factors; Europe; Family And Household; Family Characteristics; Family Relationships; Fathers; Mothers; Northern Europe; Nuptiality; Parents; Population; Population Characteristics; Psychological Factors; United Kingdom; Youth