Good parenthood and the constitution of we-ness in everyday life

This paper analyzes the practice and meaning of good parenthood in contemporary family life. It focusing on the so-°©‐called reconstituted families, parenting post divorce. The paper explores practices and narratives of sharing parental responsibility in everyday life among parents who do not live together. The paper is based on social psychological analysis of both quantitative data and qualitative interview data rich with information about family relations and social networks in everyday life in Denmark. This analysis is informed by a critique of family sociology, which posits that conventional concepts of ’the family’ lack empirical sensitivity of the highly differentiated patterns of cohabitation of a reflexive modernity (cf. Beck‐Gernsheim 2002). This critique calls for an empirically oriented approach to the study of novel dilemmas in the organization of care and intimacy of modern societies (Budgeon & Roseneil 2004). One of these dilemmas is the balance between individuality and communality in family life.