210169 SE M10 a: Culture and Politics (2010W)

Families have become a focal point in debates of 'new risks' and much needed 'new policies' for Western welfare states. Yet, family policy responses to the new challenges and even the goals associated with welfare policies designed to aid families have varied across countries, and there is much un-certainty about the sources of this variation and the future de-velopment of the policy field. The seminar first provides an overview of existing 'worlds of family policies'. Second, it takes stock of recent developments in the field of family policy by bringing together a range of countries that, taken together, map the full spectrum of advanced industrial countries' family policy dilemmas and responses. The goal of the seminar's second part is to take a first step towards explaining the varied degrees and forms of family policy activism in mature welfare states of Western liberal democracies.