Grandfathering: the construction of new identities and masculinities

Men’s roles and identities as grandfathers are insufficiently explored in social science literatures (Bates, 2009; Tarrant, 2010). There has been a proliferation of interest in fathering and grandparenting in Britain (Clarke and Roberts, 2002; Dench and Ogg, 2002), but this has not resulted in further interest in grandfathers, whose roles, relationships, identities and practices remain inadequately theorised (Mann, 2007). However, some researchers have argued that grandfathers’ involvement in the lives of their grandchildren is equal to that of grandmothers’ (Leeson and Harper, 2009). The gendered nature of earlier research on grandparenting has resulted in men being excluded from most analyses, based on assumptions that they are less interested in family life than women who are deemed the key kin-keepers (Harper, 2005). Despite insufficient attention to grandparent identities more generally (Reitzes and Mutran, 2004), it is evident that being a grandfather influences how men perform and construct their identities in later life (Ando, 2005; Mann, 2007) and that grandfatherhood is an important part of the everyday identities of middle aged and older men.