Family Policy In Germany Research Articles

The Low Fertility and Response of Family Policy in Germany

West Germany has long suffered from a low fertility rate. Sociologists attribute this to the conservative welfare regime. In response, family policy in reunified Germany has been drastically restructured, and family policy has increasingly moved closer to the Nordic model. On the one hand, cash benefits have become more generous and have shifted from mean-tested to universal. On the other hand, there has been a rapid expansion of childcare services, especially for children under the age of three. Both empirical research and real data on Germany support the positive effects of family policy on fertility.

Семейная политика Германии в контексте решения демографических проблем

The demographic change in Germany brings about diverse challenges and burdens. Family policy has the potential to play a special, formative role in influencing and shaping demographic development. This raises the question of how family policy is determined within its current demographic context. To answer it, this article lays out the fundamental goals, schemes and responsibilities of present-day family policy in Germany a striking feature of which is that its task is cross-sectional in nature. The example of old-age provisions shows how far-reaching family policy schemes are, and how they are gaining in importance given the current demographic context.

Work/life balance policy in Germany: Promoting equal partnership in families

AbstractAcross the OECD, public policies seek to support parents in achieving their desired work/life balance. This article introduces the background to and issues at stake in promoting equal partnerships in families in Germany. Families in Germany face considerable challenges to spending more time together and achieving a more gender‐balanced reconciliation of work and family life, as paid work hours for fathers are long on full‐time jobs and many women are in part‐time jobs. Family policy can play an important role and Germany has made substantial progress in supporting families ahead of and after the birth of a child. Important in this regard are the parental leave reforms of 2007 and 2015 and the extension of childcare supports that better enable fathers and mothers to combine work and family commitments. The article assesses recent developments in family policies in Germany while also drawing from the experiences of countries with longstanding policies to support work/life balance and strengthen gender equality.

Differences in the Patterns of in-work Poverty in Germany and the UK

ABSTRACTThis study analyses differences in individual-level working poverty determinants between Germany and the UK. These differences are linked to institutional patterns at the country level. Here, we observe that the two countries differ especially in bargaining centralisation, employment protection legislation and family policy. At the same time, the levels of decommodification and labour market regulation are no longer core differences in the institutional settings of Germany and the UK, which is interpreted as a consequence of Germany's departure from a traditional conservative regime since the mid-1990s. Adopting economic and sociological approaches, we explain how Germany's closed employment system channels the effects of deregulation policies to the periphery of the labour market. Additionally, we argue that open employment relationships that dominate in the UK put specifically older employees at risk. Finally, we identify country-specific differences in the economic dependency of women, resulting from a stronger male breadwinner orientation of family policy in Germany. Accordingly, multivariate analyses based on harmonised versions of the British Household Panel Study (2002–2005) and the Socio-Economic Panel Study (2003–2006) reveal that entrants and re-entrants to the labour market, women and – unexpectedly – low-educated persons are particularly affected by in-work poverty in Germany; whereas older workers are more likely to face precarious economic conditions in the UK.

Unsecular Politics in a Secular Environment: The Case of Germany's Christian Democratic Union Family Policy

Secularisation theory carried two implicit implications for Christian Democratic parties: either they become secular or they cease to exist. Both implications were wrong. Christian Democracy has neither vanished from the political landscape nor has it become fully secular. To secure its survival Christian Democracy has embarked on a delicate balancing act between the modern and the secular. Following up empirically on the thesis of Christian Democratic politics as being modern unsecular, the paper explores how much of the Christian element is still needed to explain Christian Democratic ideology and policy in the twenty-first century. By scrutinising the struggle surrounding Christian Democratic family policy in Germany, the paper finds that the conflict on the repositioning of Christian Democracy in a new cultural environment not only unfolds between secular modernisers and religious traditionalists. It has also led to the re-eruption of the interdenominational cleavage between Protestants and Catholics within the party.

The Politics of Ideas in Welfare State Transformation: Christian Democracy and the Reform of Family Policy in Germany

The expansion of employment-centered family policies of the Grand Coalition in Germany came with some surprise, as Christian Democrats have traditionally been strongly committed to the male breadwinner model and corresponding family policies. This article investigates why Christian Democrats (though with some inconsistencies) promoted “social-democratic” family policies guided by the adult worker rather than by the male breadwinner model. Illuminating the politics of recent family policy reforms, the electoral rationale for this modernization of family policy, the role of political entrepreneurship, and intraparty political conflicts over the new policy paradigm are discussed.

Between Reforms and Birth Rates: Germany, Japan, and Family Policy Discourse

This paper examines the development of employment-oriented family policy in Germany and Japan, two countries united by conservative welfare legacies and very low birthrates, through a close analysis of discourse. Why have recent reforms in Germany moved well beyond those in Japan despite remarkably similar “human capital” discourses? The relative strength of interpretative patterns—in this case, discursive patterns that successfully frame family policy reform as an economic imperative—and the role of employers are identified as critical explanatory factors. Further comparative attention is called to the role of the state as a guarantor of new family policy entitlements.

A Study on the Principle of Subsidiarity of Family Policy in Germany

A Study on the Principle of Subsidiarity of Family Policy in Germany

Family Policy in Germany: Is the Romanticized Idealization of the Male Breadwinner Losing its Relevance?

The authors examine interactions among public policy, family values, and family living in Germany, a unique and evolving marketing system. A brief historical synopsis of family policy and family matters in Germany is presented. Then, the traditional normative framework underlying most family matters—the paradigm of the male breadwinner—is discussed. For many Germans, the values behind the male breadwinner paradigm do not provide guidelines for daily decisions. Rather, they reflect a romanticized abstraction of idealized family living. The article concludes with a call for an open dialogue about the normative foundations of family policy in Germany, eventually to establish agreed upon norms and guiding principles for public policy aimed at family, with implications for the marketing system and societal well-being.

Family Policy in Germany: Appraisal and Assessment

The German government spends about euro 185 billion on measures to support families. This amount is above European Union average, but still, families have become smaller and the number of childless couples has increased. This article outlines some of the 145 German policy measures to support families and their purpose. An assessment that takes into account economic theory and empirical studies shows that an increase of monetary incentives could influence the decision to bear a child only moderately. This implies that policy measures alone cannot be held responsible for the entire difference in fertility rates between countries. Cited studies based on surveys among the German and French populations reveal how different attitudes of the population may also play their role in determining the fertility rate of a country.

Family Policies in Germany and France: The Role of Enterprises and Social Partners

Abstract Although France and Germany are commonly classified as Bismarckian welfare regimes, they differ significantly in terms of family policy. For a long time, social and family policy in (West) Germany was focused on the male‐breadwinner model of married couples. This was based on the expectation that women, in particular married women with children, would withdraw from the labour market permanently, or at least temporarily. Whereas care by mothers was massively subsidized by state family policy, the expansion of the childcare infrastructure was neglected and progressed only very slowly compared to the situation in many other countries of Europe. France, on the contrary, is one of the European countries where childcare services are particularly widespread, giving mothers the option to combine paid work and motherhood. Nevertheless, significant changes are happening in both countries. Concern over the demographic trends and low birth rates (in particular in Germany) have refocused attention on family policy in recent years. In Germany, it has now become a key field of debate and policy, and new actors have appeared on the scene. This article proposes to compare the latest developments in both countries, highlighting the contribution of enterprises and social partners to work–life balance, re‐analysing the different types of familialism characterizing both countries.

Changing coalitions in social policy reforms: the politics of new social needs and demands

Recent reforms in Swiss and German old-age insurance and family policy included elements directed at both ‘old’ and ‘new’ social needs. ‘Old risks’, such as old age and unemployment, are mainly covered by income-related insurance schemes for standard industrial breadwinners. By contrast, ‘new’ needs, such as infrastructure to reconcile work and care or insurance of atypical employment biographies, concern mainly ‘new’ risk groups, such as young people or women. While reforms directed at ‘old risks’ mainly focused on cost containment, ‘new’ social policies aimed at gender equality or the increase of labour-market participation. In this article, I argue that the emergence of modernizing policies covering new social needs leads to new conflict lines in social policy making, which differ from the distributional class conflict. Instead, I expect value coalitions and cross-class alliances on these policies. In addition, I argue that in a consensus-democratic institutional context, such new alliances form more easily. These hypotheses are tested with reference to recent reforms in pension and family policy in Germany and Switzerland. Coalition dynamics are examined by means of process analysis and multidimensional scaling. Empirical evidence largely confirms the hypotheses, but also points out the need for further differentiation of policies covering new social needs.

Family policies in Germany in the second half of the 20th century : a comparative analysis of modern society from a historical perspective

Family policies in Germany in the second half of the 20th century : a comparative analysis of modern society from a historical perspective

Family Policy in Germany: A Feminist Dilemma?

The paper provides a detailed description of different aspects of family policy in Germany, including descriptions of financial and employment supports for families in their caregiving role. Family policy in Germany provides strong financial and social support for children. Law and policy, however, are specifically formulated to encourage child rearing to take place in the home, with one of the parents focusing extensively on child rearing and family responsibilities. The paper also examines whether equality for women can be achieved within the framework of a corporatist welfare state regime such as Germany's. It develops the argument that the German route to equality may be a different one from that pursued by countries with liberal or social democratic welfare regimes. This scenario also implies that when and if equality does occur, the structures and meaning of this equality are also likely to differ. Finally, the paper argues that the corporatist welfare state regime cannot be dismissed as incompatible with the achievement of future equality for women. Instead such a model can be viewed as providing the potential of increasing choices for women with children.