First published in 1972, Motherless Families shows how, with the slow disappearance of the extended family and the support that it could offer in such situations, society has found itself responsible for lone-parent families. The authors cover the situation of about six hundred families in the East Midlands where the father was caring for his children on his own. They examine the father’s feelings about his new circumstances, the problems he faces and how he copes with them. They look at the ways in which the social services, the modified extended family and the immediate community react to the father’s position. They also consider the children’s adaptation to the motherless situation and their new relationships with the father or a mother substitute. In the final chapter the authors examine the ways in which social class and social values affect the definitions of social problems and the formulation of social policy. Both administrators and practitioners in the social services, as well as students of related subjects, will welcome the research contained in this book, and will find the authors’ conclusions of particular help in their approach to the problems of all types of one-parent families.

Mark Hopwood is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of the South, Sewanee, USA. He has published articles on a range of topics in moral philosophy, including love, narcissism, hypocrisy, and the nature of moral judgment. With Silvia Caprioglio Panizza he is editor of The Murdochian Mind, also available from Routledge.