The Netherlands: the Latent Family

Abstract

Abstract There can be no doubt that millions of people in the Netherlands live in families or family-like situations. At present, however, the most characteristic feature of the Dutch family is its latency, in three different senses: political, public and private. Political latency is indicated by the fact that there is no explicit family policy, family seldom being an issue on the political agenda. Public latency refers to the fact that it is not considered acceptable to talk or write in public about ‘het gezin’ (the family) as this would be regarded as old-fashioned. Private latency in everyday life is illustrated by the tendency to refer to a spouse or partner as ‘life companion’, ‘relation’, ‘boy friend’ or ‘girl friend’ even, and for children to be introduced casually just by their first names, instead of by saying ‘This is my son/daughter’. The national consensus about this family latency gives rise to political measures that have conflicting impacts on families. One of the consequences of the fact that family is no longer a manifest point of reference is that, in times of structural unemployment, individualized social security makes the unemployed family head vulnerable and easily pushes families of the unemployed towards the poverty line.