Children S Lives In Southern Europe

This interdisciplinary book provides a sociological view of the contemporary experiences of children in Southern Europe. Focusing on regions deeply affected by the 2008 economic crisis, it offers a detailed investigation into the impact of economic downturn and austerity on the lives of children.

907.60

At present, our knowledge of the current state of solidarity between parents and their adult children in Europe is limited. Insight into contemporary intergenerational solidarity is not only important for the well-being of individuals but is also of great interest to policy makers. Patterns of intergenerational solidarity are not only affected by social policies and services but also reveal a number of important social policy issues and dilemmas. Will encouraging labour force participation among women and older workers mean they have less time to care for their dependents? Should formal care services be further expanded to relieve the burden faced by family members with the risk that they start to replace informal care? This report aims to contribute to this insight by providing a more differentiated picture of the strength, nature and direction of solidarity between parents and their adult children, its variation among European countries and its determinants. Our findings indicate that parent-child ties are quite strong. The majority of Europeans aged 50 and over live in close proximity and are in frequent contact with at least one of the children. Moreover, strong family care obligations still exist and a substantial amount of support is being exchanged between parents and their non-co resident children. Interesting differences, however, emerge between individuals and countries. While fathers are more inclined to assist their children financially, mothers have more frequent contact and exchange more help in kind with their children. Being religious and having a large family have a positive impact on several dimensions of intergenerational solidarity. Parental divorce and a better socioeconomic position of parents and children, on the other hand, lead to a weakening of parent-child ties in many respects. Contrary to common belief, employed children show solidarity with their parents as much as those without a paid job. Differences in the nature of intergenerational solidarity between the European countries tend to follow the general division into an individualistic north and a familistic south.

This special edition of "Schmollers Jahrbuch" has been compiled to illustrate the potential value of comparative European studies. As Melvin Kohn says, "cross-national research is valuable, even indispensable, for establishing the generality of findings and the validity of interpretations derived from single-nation studies. It is equally valuable, perhaps even more valuable, for forcing us to revise our interpretations to take account of cross-national differences and inconsistencies that could never be uncovered in single-nation studies".Cross-country comparisons are of immense potential value for different actors. Within Europe they are of likely significance:- To the institutions of the EU itself, offering a detailed map of variations in social and economic experiences between countries and groups of countries.- To policy makers at the national level, showing how far the social and economic problems observed locally are experienced in common with other European countries.- To social scientists seeking to understand the processes and results of change. If the influences identified in one country are not generalisable to other countries, it is necessary to develop hypotheses about the reasons for the differences.- To analysts of social policy looking for general conclusions about the influence of government actions on individuals' lives in Europe.There are many different approaches to cross-country research. Summary macro-data may be compared across many countries. At the other extreme, highly detailed studies can be undertaken of the effects of policy in just two or three countries. The papers in this compilation are focused on micro-level data about individuals and households in most of the countries in the EU. They are mostly based on one cross-national survey, the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). Most of them have been contributed by members of the European Panel Analysis Group (EPAG).

In this first analytical monograph on the subject, George Katrougalos and Gabriella Lazaridis examine the social welfare state of the main four Southern European countries, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece. They conduct an overall system analysis of the welfare state in Southern Europe which challenges the prevalent Ferrera model. Additionally, they present a detailed outlook of policies adopted in the fields of employment, migration, health, social security, pensions and gender-family issues.

Analysing the evolution of selected public policies and the changing roles and structure of the state in Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain since the 1960s, this volume makes a major contribution to work on democratic regime transition in southern Europe.

"In FELICIE, the focus is on the health of the elderly, and on the resources at their disposal to cope with the severe impairments liable to affect their quality of life. Not only personal resources - economic well-being and educational attainment - but also the potential support of close kin, i.e. their partner, of course, and their children, if available. This leads to the more specific question of care. One major conclusion of the FELICIE study is that the disabled older adults of the future will fare better, on average, than those of today, both on a personal level, thanks to higher levels of education, and on a social level, thanks to the more frequent presence of their spouse and, at least potentially, their children. The conclusions are based on the experience of nine countries across Europe (north: Finland, Netherlands; west: Belgium, France, Germany, United Kingdom; south: Italy, Portugal; east: Czech Republic). In terms of both demographic and social indicators, the participating countries are fairly representative of their region."--Publisher.