Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

This chapter provides a comparative overview of one important aspect of public policy for families in the European Union (EU) – the development of governmental responses to the often-conflicting needs for parents to reconcile their work and caring responsibilities. While the range of laws, regulations, and policies that we could have examined in this chapter is extremely broad, we opt for a narrow policy focus so that we can provide a more comprehensive, comparative presentation. We choose this approach because we believe a thorough comparison of welfare-state policies and employment behaviors across countries can shed light on notable variations in cultural conceptions of the role of the family in society and inform our understanding of the changing interface between the family, the market, and the state. By understanding differences in the roles of individuals within families, as well as the roles of families in society, sociologists can develop a more robust theoretical conception of how families function and the way in which social policy influences, and is influenced by, their behavior. Nonetheless, it is important to keep in mind that our comparative overview will rely on aggregate data measures that may mask important differences among individuals (or groups of individuals) both within and across EU states. In our attempt to exploit important variances across states, we will ... log in or subscribe to read full text