Austerity and men's hidden family participation in low-income families in the UK

<p>This chapter presents men’s experiences of low-income family life and the impacts of austerity, beginning with an appraisal of the current state of debate, whereby negative portrayals of low-income fatherhood serve to obscure men’s participation in family life. This is followed by discussion of the methodology and methods employed for the ‘Men, Poverty and Lifetimes of Care’ (MPLC) study, upon which the discussion in this chapter is based. Emerging findings are then presented offering insights into the men’s lived experiences of austerity as it impacts on their everyday lives, their care responsibilities and on the resources they have to fulfill those responsibilities. The chapter concludes that in order to extend understanding of the gendered impacts of austerities both in the UK and across Europe, men’s family participation and the intergenerational processes that produce it are an essential consideration.</p>