Investing in Enchantment

Regular price €87.99
Quantity:
Ships in 10-20 days
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days
Shipping & Delivery
A01=Michelle Janning
Author_Michelle Janning
Category=JHB
community
COVID-19
economy
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
patterns in families
sociology
sociology of the family
vacation homes

Product details

  • ISBN 9781538182673
  • Weight: 558g
  • Dimensions: 159 x 235mm
  • Publication Date: 30 Aug 2024
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Hardback
Secure checkout Fast Shipping Easy returns

Should we keep the family cabin or list it on Airbnb? U.S. second homes are formally classified as investment properties used primarily for financial gain or vacation homes primarily reserved for personal use, but what have families actually been doing with them before, during, and after COVID-19 lockdowns?
Today’s desire for authenticity and family connectedness has made family vacation homes a compelling site to examine how we think of labor and leisure, whom we include as family members and neighbors, and how all of this is represented both spatially and materially. Framed as a magical place for family members to look back on nostalgically, the family vacation home remains an enchanted and memory-filled site that is artificially removed from the marketplace, even if it is rented to others for their family vacations. It is meant to be a magical escape from the challenges of work and family stress, politics, and social inequalities. In reality, the family vacation home requires labor, has financial value as a piece of family wealth, and the magic is not accessible to all. In Investing in Enchantment, Michelle Janning tells a new story about the cultural meanings and structural outcomes surrounding family vacation homes today.

Michelle Janning is Professor of Sociology and Raymond and Elsie Gipson DeBurgh Chair of Social Sciences at Whitman College. Her research focuses on the sociology of families, with emphasis on the material and spatial dimensions of family life. A frequent speaker and commentator in news media about contemporary families and home design, her books include The Stuff of Family Life: How our Homes Reflect our Lives (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), Love Letters: Saving Romance in the Digital Age (Routledge, 2018), and A Guide to Socially-Informed Research for Architects and Designers (Routledge, 2023).

More from this author