Contemporary Family Lifestyles In Central And Western Europe

This open access book brings together a unique set of comparative data from Western and Central Europe on how contemporary families live, and discusses the similarities and differences in family lifestyles in this region. The empirical data comes from the authors‘ original research derived from adult representatives of families with children in the Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. The authors compare and interpret information on the social and economic situation of families, expressed satisfaction in their lifestyles, and leisure and media in the everyday life of families. Overall, the authors bring into the discussion both current knowledge and original empirical data on families and contribute to literature on the sociology of the family, particularly in Europe. This book is useful to researchers and students interested in family issues, along with professionals in the field of family care and social policy.

Published in 1997, the aim of this study is to address comparative perspectives on gender and family life in western and eastern Europe. The focus is on the way in which family policy measures relating to the reconciliation of work and family are viewed and used by employed parents with small children. Another purpose is to consider how compatibility between family and employment is perceived by the parents, and its implications for partnership, gender balance, and parent-child relationships. The book also discusses the consequences and lessons which can be drawn from these studies for the purpose of family policy initiatives.

"This collection of essays traces the relationship between families and states in the major countries of Western Europe since 1945, examining the power of states to shape family life and the capacity of families to influence states. Written by an exceptionally distinguished team of scholars, Families and States in Western Europe follows many narratives, allowing comparisons to be drawn between different countries. The essays point to numerous convergences, illustrating how states have coped with common problems arising at the level of family life, and exploring issues such as secularism, the pressure of multiculturalist demands and the growing rejection of welfare state principles. Families and States in Western Europe will be of interest to anyone analysing relations between civil society and the modern democratic state, and the place of the family within this relationship. This collection makes a significant contribution to current political theory and to our understanding of European family life in its many different forms"--

Instead of seeing the family as a 'monolithic' entity, as though separate from its surroundings, this new approach draws attention to assemblages of various types that in different constellations and through different transactions relate people to each other as families and kin.

Originally published in 1989, this cross-national study investigates the role and pattern of family life in fourteen countries in contemporary Europe. Providing a wealth of information on European families, it is a key source for anyone wishing to understand the changes in the family at that time. The contributors argue that, far from withering away, the family remained a very important social unit which continued to have considerable influence on other social institutions such as the state and the labour market. The central theme is the interrelation between changes in production and working life on one hand, and changes in family life and reproduction on the other. The contributors focus on the pressures and contradictions produced by the division of functions between family and work, and on problems which have arisen as a consequence of the sometimes incompatible and even conflicting demands of the two institutions. They show that the evolution of the nuclear family model in Europe had led to a great diversity of family patterns, and conclude that the family in modern European societies still had a contribution to make which no other institution could provide.

Contemporary women's movement and the future of the American family.

Families in Converging Europe examines common familial trends and differences between Northern and Southern and Eastern and Western Europe from 1960s to early 2000s and discusses the most common theoretical explanations for convergence and divergence. The interest lies in macro-level social changes and in the interrelationship between the family and other social institutions. In-depth comparison of Finnish and Spanish cases as representatives of North and South Europe provides an example of how macro-level changes affect both family ideology and practices.