A ComparisonbetweenConservativeWelfareStates andKoreanChildcarePolicy,1993-2003

Abstract

This paper analyzes family policies in the conservative welfare states and compares them with those in Korea, with specific foci on defamilization and familization policies. The time frame for the analysis is between the 1990s and early 2000s, the period identified as the beginning of an active response toward the new social risk in the conservative welfare states. Through a comparative analysis in family policies between conservative welfare states and Korea, several noticeable results were found. First, contrary to general expectation, no similarities among conservative welfare states were noted in the realm of childcare policy. Second, although family policies in conservative welfare states have been changing continuously in the last ten years, no qualitative changes were found except in France. Third, Korean childcare policy may seem to share major characteristics with conservative welfare states in rhetoric, but the actual policy differs substantially from those in the conservative states.