Overview

Random Families is about the unprecedented families that have grown up at the intersection of new reproductive technologies, social media, and the human desire for belonging. Children of the same donor and their families, with the help of the internet, can now locate each other and make contact. Based on over 350 interviews with children (ages 10-28), their parents and related donors from all over the U.S., Random Families chronicles the chain of choices that couples and single mothers make from what donor to use to how to participate (or not) in donor sibling networks. Children reveal their understanding of a donor, the donor's spot on the family tree and the meaning of their donor siblings. Through rich first-person accounts of network membership, the book illustrates how these extraordinary relationships-woven from bits of online information and shared genetic ties-are transformed into new possibilities for kinship. Random Families offers down-to-earth stories from real families to highlight just how truly distinctive these contemporary new forms of family are.

Full Product Details

Author:   Rosanna Hertz (Classes of 1919-1950 Reunion Professor, Classes of 1919-1950 Reunion Professor, Wellesley College) ,  Margaret K. Nelson (Hepburn Professor of Sociology, Hepburn Professor of Sociology, Middlebury College)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780197519981

ISBN 10:   0197519989
Pages:   312
Publication Date:   08 September 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Unprecedented Relationships Part I: Making Sense of the Donor and Donor Siblings Chapter 1. Choosing Donors Chapter 2. Inventing the Donor / Inventing the Self Chapter 3. Parents Make Contact with Genetic Strangers Chapter 4. The Surprise of donor siblings Part II: Networks of Donor Siblings Chapter 5. Michael's Clan: The Arrival of the Father Chapter 6. 7008 Builders: We are Family Chapter 7. The Tourists: Just Related Strangers Chapter 8. Connected Soul Mates: Emotional Ties Chapter 9. The Social Capitalists: Joining The Preschoolers Group Chapter 10. Donor Sibling Networks: Continuity and Change Conclusion: Choice in Donor Sibling Networks Appendix A: Respondents Appendix B: Interviews, Virtual Ethnography And Language In The Book Endnotes Bibliography

Reviews

The scope of Random Families is astounding...Hertz and Nelson have made a significant contribution to what is an area of research in its infancy and have sparked an important conversation on what it means to be a family. -- Sociology of Health & Illness The networks that Hertz and Nelson selected for case study...represent different age cohorts and different eras in the history of donor conception, and provide a fascinating glimpse into the varied ways in which these networks interact. -- Global Technologies of Sperm Donation from Conception to Connection Rosanna Hertz and Margaret Nelson provide an important and significant expansion of the field [of donor kinship]. At the core of the book is a sociological investigation and analysis of whether and how strangers become relatives, and what happens to the meaning of family as these strangers who share genes manage their new relationships. Random Families is an impressive book Ultimately, this is not a neatly tied package of family connections but instead an analysis, an attempt to create a narrative to describe these otherwise unscripted relationships (p. 198) that are so different from other kinship-based bonds. --, Society add[s] substantially to the literature on Americans' changing families, family values, and behaviors. This clearly written and organized text ... [is] a groundbreaking and illuminating study ... Highly recommended. -- W. Feigelman, CHOICE Hertz and Nelson's approach is a welcome addition to the scholarship on searching for genetic relations among donor-conceived people and their parents . . . Random Families is an intellectually honest account of the complexity, and diversity, of same-donor networks . . . What becomes of these [donor network] possibilities remains to be seen, but for bringing them to light, Random Families deserves recognition. --SCIENCE

Hertz and Nelson's approach is a welcome addition to the scholarship on searching for genetic relations among donor-conceived people and their parents . . . Random Families is an intellectually honest account of the complexity, and diversity, of same-donor networks . . . What becomes of these [donor network] possibilities remains to be seen, but for bringing them to light, Random Families deserves recognition. * SCIENCE * add[s] substantially to the literature on Americans' changing families, family values, and behaviors. This clearly written and organized text ... [is] a groundbreaking and illuminating study ... Highly recommended. * W. Feigelman, CHOICE * Rosanna Hertz and Margaret Nelson provide an important and significant expansion of the field [of donor kinship]. At the core of the book is a sociological investigation and analysis of whether and how strangers become relatives, and what happens to the meaning of family as these strangers who share genes manage their new relationships. Random Families is an impressive booka Ultimately, this is not a neatly tied package of family connections but instead an analysis, an attempt to create a narrative to describe these otherwise aunscripteda relationships (p. 198) that are so different from other kinship-based bonds. * , Society * The networks that Hertz and Nelson selected for case study...represent different age cohorts and different eras in the history of donor conception, and provide a fascinating glimpse into the varied ways in which these networks interact. * Global Technologies of Sperm Donation from Conception to Connection * The scope of Random Families is astounding...Hertz and Nelson have made a significant contribution to what is an area of research in its infancy and have sparked an important conversation on what it means to be a family. * Sociology of Health & Illness *

The scope of Random Families is astounding...Hertz and Nelson have made a significant contribution to what is an area of research in its infancy and have sparked an important conversation on what it means to be a family. -- Sociology of Health & Illness The networks that Hertz and Nelson selected for case study...represent different age cohorts and different eras in the history of donor conception, and provide a fascinating glimpse into the varied ways in which these networks interact. -- Global Technologies of Sperm Donation from Conception to Connection Rosanna Hertz and Margaret Nelson provide an important and significant expansion of the field [of donor kinship]. At the core of the book is a sociological investigation and analysis of whether and how strangers become relatives, and what happens to the meaning of family as these strangers who share genes manage their new relationships. Random Families is an impressive booka Ultimately, this is not a neatly tied package of family connections but instead an analysis, an attempt to create a narrative to describe these otherwise aunscripteda relationships (p. 198) that are so different from other kinship-based bonds. -- , Society add[s] substantially to the literature on Americans' changing families, family values, and behaviors. This clearly written and organized text ... [is] a groundbreaking and illuminating study ... Highly recommended. -- W. Feigelman, CHOICE Hertz and Nelson's approach is a welcome addition to the scholarship on searching for genetic relations among donor-conceived people and their parents . . . Random Families is an intellectually honest account of the complexity, and diversity, of same-donor networks . . . What becomes of these [donor network] possibilities remains to be seen, but for bringing them to light, Random Families deserves recognition. --SCIENCE

Author Information

Rosanna Hertz is the 1919 50th Reunion Professor of Sociology and Women's and Gender Studies at Wellesley College. She authored the widely acclaimed Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice, a path-breaking study of women who choose parenthood without marriage. She is frequently sought out by national media on issues related to women, work and changing families in contemporary society. Margaret K. Nelson is the A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Sociology Emerita at Middlebury College where she taught for four decades. Her books include Working Hard and Making Do: Surviving in Small Town America (with Joan Smith), and Parenting Out of Control: Anxious Parents in Uncertain Times.

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