Abstract
This chapter provides the theoretical backdrop of the study, giving an overview of existing approaches and describing empirical results in the literature. The first section briefly discusses the concept of institutions and describes insights from institutional theory. This section addresses the theoretical relationship between institutions and individuals and the question of how institutions impact on human behavior, preferences, and attitudes.
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Notes
- 1.
For critics and extensions made by other scholars, please refer to Leibfried (1992), Castles and Mitchell (1993), Ferrera (1996), Bonoli (1997), Arts and Gelissen (2002), and Scruggs and Allen (2006).
- 2.
See Ferrarini (2006: Chpt. 3) for a thorough analysis of the political determinants of familypolicy development, such as class-political factors and women’s role in political decision making.
- 3.
An exception might be the group of migrant families. However, the topic of migration and the social rights of migrants, e.g., in terms welfare state entitlements go beyond the scope of this study. For a discussion of these issues, see Alesina and Glaeser (2004) and Mau and Burkhardt (2009).
- 4.
The idea of subsidiarity implies “that social services should be provided for at the lowest possible level in the community, public authorities playing a role only in the event that churches and families are unable to do so” (Fagnani 2007: 43).
- 5.
I.e., “when a service is rendered as a matter of right, and when a person can maintain a livelihood without reliance on the market” (Esping-Andersen 1990: 21/22).
- 6.
For a discussion of the distinctiveness of the Southern European countries, see also Ferrara (1996) and Karamessini (2008), who discussed the distinctiveness of this group of countries with respect to several fields of welfare-state intervention.
- 7.
After the Second World War, Germany was divided into two countries. Between 1949 and 1989, the “German Democratic Republic” (East Germany) had a state socialist system with a centrally planned economy with socialist employment and family policies, whereas the “Federal Republic of Germany” (West Germany) had a multi-party parliament, a market economy, and a conservative-corporatist welfare state (Rosenfeld et al. 2004: 103).
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Mischke, M. (2014). Theoretical background and literature review. In: Public Attitudes towards Family Policies in Europe. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-03577-8_2
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