Klaus Peter Strohmeier – författare

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.

++ Nominiert für den Deutschen Sachbuchpreis 2025 ++Die alternde Gesellschaft ist weder kindergerecht noch ist sie gerecht zu Kindern.Für Kinder und Jugendliche ist der Krisenzustand zum Normalzustand geworden. Die junge Generation wird politisch übersehen und gesellschaftlich vernachlässigt. Kinder müssen ins Zentrum des politischen und gesellschaftlichen Denkens gerückt werden. Das Buch vereint eine umfassende Problemanalyse mit vielen Lösungsansätzen. Die Herausforderung ist so groß, dass alle einen Beitrag leisten können.Deutschland steht an einem Wendepunkt: Die geburtenstarken Jahrgänge kommen ins Rentenalter und die damit einhergehenden demografischen Veränderungen stellen das Land vor ungeahnte Herausforderungen. Doch die junge Generation, die demnächst Verantwortung übernehmen soll, ist eine Minderheit, deren Lebensrealität geprägt ist von Bildungsungleichheit, Dauerkrisen und dem stetigen Gefühl, politisch und gesellschaftlich übersehen zu werden. Dieses Buch fordert ein Umdenken: Kinder müssen aus ihrer Außenseiterposition ins Zentrum gerückt werden, nicht nur als moralische Verpflichtung, sondern als essenzielle Notwendigkeit für eine lebenswerte Zukunft. Mit umfassenden Analysen zeigt es auf, welche enormen Veränderungen heute Kindheiten prägen und wie wir den Jüngsten gerecht werden können. Davon hängt auch die Zukunftsfähigkeit der Gesellschaft ab.