Children, Changing Families and Welfare States

'As welfare states grow up, they begin to think more carefully about their future. Jane Lewis is showing them how best to do so. This stellar collection of articles by top European scholars combines creative thinking about the new social investment state with impressive empirical research on specific forms of public support for family work.' -- Nancy Folbre, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US

Edited by Jane Lewis, formerly Professor of Social Policy, London School of Economics, UK

Contents: 1. Introduction: Children in the Context of Changing Families and Welfare States Jane Lewis PART I: CHILDREN AS A SOCIAL INVESTMENT 2. The LEGO Paradigm and New Social Risks: Consequences for Children Jane Jenson 3. An Agenda for Children: Investing in the Future or Promoting Well-being in the Present? Ruth Lister PART II: PAYING FOR CHILDREN 4. Child Benefit Packages in 15 Countries in 2004 Jonathan Bradshaw 5. Paying for the Costs of Children in Eight North European Countries: Ambivalent Trends Ulla Bjrnberg 6. Paying for Children: Current Issues and Implications of Policy Debates Fran Bennett PART III: CARING FOR CHILDREN 7. Cultures of Childhood and the Relationship of Care and Employment in European Welfare States Birgit Pfau-Effinger 8. From a Childcare to a Pedagogical Discourse Or Putting Care in its Place Peter Moss 9. The OECD and the Work/Family Reconciliation Agenda: Competing Frames Rianne Mahon PART IV: CHILDREN AND THE SEARCH FOR A WORKLIFE BALANCE 10. Childcare in a Changing World: Policy Responses to Working Time Flexibility in France Marie-Thrse Letablier 11. Work Life Balance from the Childrens Perspective Ute Klammer 12. Squeezed between Two Agendas: Work and Childcare in the Flexible UK Diane Perrons 13. Men and Womens Agency and Capabilities to Create a Work Life Balance in Diverse and Changing Institutional Contexts Barbara Hobson, Ann-Zolfe Duvander and Karin Halldn Index