Franz-Xaver Kaufmann - Böcker

There is widespread evidence that the family has undergone profound social changes in the past decades. However, the interpretations of these changes remain diverse and inconsistent, particularly when it comes to international comparative research. This reinterpretation of the empirical evidence has grown from the co-operation of researchers from ten European countries. It overcomes the limitations of international demographic statistics by using sample surveys and the available register data in order to study the interaction of political, economic, and demographic factors in the changing forms of private lives during the 1980s. The standardized framework connects the macro perspective of national policy peculiarities with the micro perspective of an analysis of the changing living arrangements of two cohorts of women--those starting families and those whose children are leaving home. Thus, the book provides new interdisciplinary insights into country-specific information and tools for specific thematic comparisons. The evidence presented in this study reveals strong and persistent between-nation differences in the ways people adapt their lives, and the choices they have to make between work and family life, to changing circumstances. Confronted with national cultural and political attitudes, as well as differences in institutional designs concerning the family, these differences between nations in the priorities of various forms of family life are explained as the reactions of rational actors to various normative orientations and institutional opportunities.

Volume 2 of Family Life and Family Policies in Europe is a comparative study of family change in Europe and its dependency on social policy regimes. The authors explore family discourse, family law, single parents, gender relations, the 'new fathers', divorce, and abortion within the framework of national policies vis-à-vis the family. Conventional wisdom assumes that policy decisions affecting the life situation of a population shape different opportunities for private living, particularly in relation to children and the family. But, the authors argue, it would be too simplistic to assume a direct causal link between welfare policies for the family and developments in the family sector. Family change is in fact mediated by institutional factors as well as by cultural traditions and political intervention. The chapters in this volume deal with the substantial and methodological problems of ascertaining the impact of different national policy regimes on family change.This volume, in conjunction with Volume 1 (which presents a standardized framework for analysing family development and policies across ten European countries), makes a significant contribution to research in the field of comparative interdisciplinary family science. Together they aim at a better understanding of issues relevant to the European agenda for social policies towards the family.

While social welfare programs, often inspired by international organizations, are spreading throughout the world, the more far-reaching notion of governmental responsibility for the basic well-being of all members of a political society is not, although it remains a feature of Europe and the former British Commonwealth. The welfare state in the European sense is not simply an administrative arrangement of various measures of social protection but a political project embedded in distinct cultural traditions. Offering the first accessible account in English of the historical development of the European idea of the welfare state, this book reviews the intellectual foundations which underpinned the road towards the European welfare state, formulates some basic concepts for its understanding, and highlights the differences in the underlying structural and philosophical conditions between continental Europe and the English-speaking world.

While social welfare programs, often inspired by international organizations, are spreading throughout the world, the more far-reaching notion of governmental responsibility for the basic well-being of all members of a political society is not, although it remains a feature of Europe and the former British Commonwealth. The welfare state in the European sense is not simply an administrative arrangement of various measures of social protection but a political project embedded in distinct cultural traditions. Offering the first accessible account in English of the historical development of the European idea of the welfare state, this book reviews the intellectual foundations which underpinned the road towards the European welfare state, formulates some basic concepts for its understanding, and highlights the differences in the underlying structural and philosophical conditions between continental Europe and the English-speaking world.

No detailed description available for "Social Intervention".

No detailed description available for "The Public Sector".

Der institutionalisierte Konsens über die politische Verantwortung eines Gemeinwesens für die Grundlagen des Wohlergehens aller ihm Zugehörenden beruht auf normativen Voraussetzungen, die nur im Kontext von Christentum, Aufklärung und Staatstradition entstanden sind.

Social policy turned from class politics into a policy for the whole population, with new concepts – like "social security", "redistribution" and "quality of life" - and new overarching formulas, "social market economy" and "social state" (the German version of “welfare state”).

In the burgeoning literature on welfare regimes and typologies, this comparative study offers a stimulating new perspective. Kaufmann, the doyen of the sociology of social policy in Germany, emphasizes norms, culture and history, in contrast to political economy approaches. Comparing Britain, Sweden, France and Germany, Kaufmann highlights the „idiosyncrasy” of each welfare state: countries are compared with regard to their state traditions and the relationship between state and civil society; their national “social questions”; their economic systems, including the unions and labour law; social security and redistribution; and their personal social services and education. The socio-cultural approach enables Kaufmann to show that not all modern states are welfare states. Some are just „capitalism“ (the USA), others are „socialism“ (the former Soviet Union). In this light, the (essentially North-West European) welfare state is portrayed as a third way between capitalism and socialism.

Social policy turned from class politics into a policy for the whole population, with new concepts – like "social security", "redistribution" and "quality of life" - and new overarching formulas, "social market economy" and "social state" (the German version of “welfare state”).

In the burgeoning literature on welfare regimes and typologies, this comparative study offers a stimulating new perspective. Kaufmann, the doyen of the sociology of social policy in Germany, emphasizes norms, culture and history, in contrast to political economy approaches. Comparing Britain, Sweden, France and Germany, Kaufmann highlights the „idiosyncrasy” of each welfare state: countries are compared with regard to their state traditions and the relationship between state and civil society; their national “social questions”; their economic systems, including the unions and labour law; social security and redistribution; and their personal social services and education. The socio-cultural approach enables Kaufmann to show that not all modern states are welfare states. Some are just „capitalism“ (the USA), others are „socialism“ (the former Soviet Union). In this light, the (essentially North-West European) welfare state is portrayed as a third way between capitalism and socialism.

Folgen des demographischen Wandels und die Belastung der Familien durch die strukturellen Rücksichtslosigkeiten der gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse sind lange vernachlässigte Herausforderungen, die im kommenden Jahrzehnt die politische Agenda in der Bundesrepublik mitbestimmen werden.