The Centre for Narrative Research in the Social Sciences

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Abstracts - Dr S. Day-Sclater

Day Sclater, S. (1998) 'Nina’s Story: An exploration into the construction and transformation of subjectivities in narrative accounting.' Auto/biography 6: 67-77

This paper uses one woman’s divorce story to explore the questions of the construction and transformation of subjectivities in narrative accounting.
A detailed life history account of Nina’s divorce, told in the context of a research interview, was analysed. A number of apparent contradictions in the content of the account were explored. A naming experience, narratively recounted, provided a turning point in the narrative, after which the speaker revisited old themes and told them differently. It is argued that the act of naming an experience provided the possibility for narrating a new subject position. The implications for methodology and research ethics are discussed.

Day Sclater, S. (1998) Creating the self: Stories as transitional phenomena. Auto/biography 6: 85-92.

It is widely acknowledged in social scientific work that uses a narrative approach, that people tell stories to organise their experiences and to make sense of their lives. Analysis of personal narratives is increasingly being used as a way of gaining insights into the cultural construction of both lives and selves. This ‘turn to narrative’ holds promise for overcoming many of the limitations in orthodox approaches to understanding meanings and subjectivities. However, the new approaches bring new problems in their wake. This paper addresses the failure of narrative approaches to account for the production of subjectivities in the process of narrative accounting. It invokes both discourse theory and psychoanalysis in the service of understanding the cultural production of subjectivities. It argues that personal narrative accounts are of the order of ‘transitional phenomena,’ as described by Winnicott.

Day Sclater, S. (1999) Divorce: A Psychosocial Study. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 1-82014-900-0

This book reports a study in which adults’ experiences of divorce were investigated using narrative methods. It includes a chapter that spells out the rationale for a ‘psychosocial’ approach to divorce, and shows what the employment of narrative methods can contribute to psychological understanding.

Day Sclater, S. (1997) Narratives of Divorce. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 19: 423-41

Divorce is usually traumatic and the processes involved are almost certainly more complex than current images allow. This paper explores some of the complexities and ambiguities of divorce. These are illustrated with reference to the the personal narrative accounts of three divorcing women.

Day Sclater, S. (2000) ‘The Bubble that Burst: Jane’s Divorce Story’ Self Agency and Society Volume 3 No. 1 pp 44-69 ISSN 1355 2619

Traditional ideals of romantic love were based on a sharp gender differentiation. More recently, the ideology of the ‘companionate marriage’ has embodied a more egalitarian notion of the respective contributions of women and men to intimate partnerships. However, both have been placed under increasing strain in the wake of wider changes in social relations and structures, and tensions have emerged. Of particular significance are women’s changing expectations and aspirations in the area of intimacy. These tensions form a strong connecting thread in one woman’s account of her divorce. Jane’s narrative reveals the transformations in her experience of conjugality, and her personal account illuminates broader sociological questions about marriage, divorce and the family in late modernity.
Keywords: Marriage, Divorce, Narrative, Romantic Love, Companionate Marriage, Gender.

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