In this paper we discuss the importance of taking an historical, intergenerational approach in sociological research. Lives need to be understood in the contexts of particular times and places. The backcloth to our discussion is the contemporary disruption of many young people’s life...

By using examples from food and domestic life in England during 1950, this paper examines the use of narrative archival sources as a methodological alternative to researching everyday food practices by traditional research methods, such as interviewing. Through the analysis of three diaries...

The paper draws on the author's interview experiences and interrogates the conditions in which research interviews generate narratives and storytelling; interviews that do not invite storytelling and interviews where people were asked to give a life story. First, the paper considers the question...

In Britain most women's employment careers are interrupted by childbirth; only a tiny proportion return to their pre-birth jobs and a considerable proportion experience downward mobility when they do return to work. Evidence is presented from a longitudinal study of two groups of women in the...