Adult Sonhood and Kin-Keeping. Experiences of Middle-Class Men in Their Third and Fourth Decade

The sociology of family relations often focuses on the parent-child relationship, either from the perspective of underage children or the need to care for ageing parents. In psychology and psychoanalysis, the son's relationship with his parents has been described primarily through the prism of the Oedipus complex and the possibility of overcoming it. In sociology, on the other hand, masculinity is often described from the perspective of relationships with intimate partners or one's own children. When it comes to families of origin, the process of socialisation into gender roles, which takes place mainly during childhood, is discussed. However, the question of the relationship between adult sons and their parents is rarely considered. The presentation is based on an analysis of individual narrative interviews conducted with middle-class men in their third and fourth decades of life in Poland. This period includes the process of becoming independent from parents, forming an identity, developing a career, forming intimate relationships and making decisions about starting a family. During this period, most parents are still alive and in good health, so parental health concerns do not dominate their relationship with their adult children. In this presentation, I will discuss the nature of adult sons' contacts and bonds with their parents and siblings, and the importance of their relationship with their parents to them. The results of the analysis will let identify the discourses shaping sons’ narratives about their relations with parents and how masculinities are (re)produced within them.