Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

National styles of regulation: Child care in three countries

  • Published:
Policy Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An analysis of child care regulations in Germany, Sweden, and the United States reveals distinctive national policy styles. A ‘social constructionist’ perspective, with its emphasis on variable problem definitions, helps to explain such differences. However, a full understanding of regulatory differences requires attention to regulatory solutions as well. By disaggregating the concept of regulation, we are able to demonstrate rather different rank-orderings of our three countries in their regulatory solutions. We attribute these differences to cultural, institutional, and political characteristics of the three countries.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abt Associates (1978). National Day Care Study: Preliminary Findings and Their Implications. Cambridge, MA. January 31.

  • Adams, Gina (1990). Who Knows How Safe? The Status of State Efforts to Ensure Quality Child Care. Washington, D.C.: Children's Defense Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (1992). ‘Record numbers of women to take statehouse seats.’ Washington Post. November 22: 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bardach, Eugene and Robert Kagan (1982). Going by the Book: The Problem of Regulatory Unreasonableness. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Best, Joel (1989). Images of Issues. Berlin: Aldine de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brickman, Ronald, Sheila Jasanoff, and Thomas Ilgen (1985). Controlling Chemicals: The Politics of Regulation in Europe and the U.S. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahn, Daniela (1990). ‘Ohne Frauen ist kein Staat zu machen.’ Paper delivered at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies. Washington, D.C., April 7.

  • Dery, David (1984). Problem Definition in Policy Analysis. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, Murray (1967). The Symbolic Uses of Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esping-Anderson, Gosta (1990). The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fund for the Feminist Majority (1988–89). Feminist Majority Report 1 (3).

  • Gormley, William, Jr. (1990). ‘Regulating Mister Rogers, Neighbourhood: The Dilemmas of Day Care Regulation,’ The Brookings Review 8 (4): 21–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gormley, William, Jr. (1991) ‘State Regulations and the Availability of Child-Care Services,’ Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 10 (1): 78–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, Cheryl et al. (1990). Who Cares for America's Children? Child Care Policy for the 1990s. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidenheimer, Arnold, Hugh Heclo, and Carolyn Adams (1975). Comparative Public Policy: The Politics of Social Choice in Europe and America. New York: St. Martin's Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hertzke, Allen and Mary Scribner (1989). ‘The politics of federal day care: the nexus of family, church and the positive state.’ A paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta. August 31–September 3.

  • Hilgartner, Stephen and Charles Bosk (1988). ‘The Rise and Fall of Social Problems: A Public Arenas Model,’ American Journal of Sociology 94 (1): 53–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamerman, Sheila (1991). ‘Starting Right: What We Owe to Children Under Three,’ The American Prospect 4 (Winter): 63–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamerman, Sheila and Alfred Kahn (1991). ‘Child and Family Benefits: East and West.’ A paper presented at the Conference on the Changing Structure of Income and Social Policy in Eastern Europe, Walferdange, Luxembourg, July 21–23.

  • Kamerman, Sheila and Alfred Kahn (1981). Child Care, Family Benefits, and Working Parents. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katzenstein, Peter (1987). Policy and Politics in West Germany. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelman, Steven (1981). Regulating America, Regulating Sweden: A Comparative Study of Occupational Safety and Health Policy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linder, Stephen and B. Guy Peters (1989). ‘Instruments of Government: Perceptions and Contexts,’ Journal of Public Policy 9, Part 1: 35–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mansbridge, Jane (1986). Why We Lost the ERA. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner, Andrew (1990). Sweden: Social Democracy in Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, Gwen (1987). The National State of Child Care Regulation 1986. Watertown, MA: Work/Family Directions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, Barbara (1984). Making an Issue of Child Abuse. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, B. Guy (1989). The Politics of Bureaucracy, 3rd ed. New York: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reisman, Barbara, Amy Moore, and Karen Fitzgerald (1988). Child Care: The Bottom Line. New York: Child Care Action Campaign.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, Jeremy, ed. (1982). Policy Styles in Western Europe. London: George Allen and Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rokkan, Stein (1966). ‘Norway: Numerical Democracy and Corporate Pluralism,’ in Robert Dahl, ed. Political Opposition in Western Democracies. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sacks, Jeffrey et al. (1989). ‘The Epidemiology of Injuries in Atlanta Day-Care Centers,’ Journal of the American Medical Association 262 (12): 1641–1645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, Joseph (1985). ‘Social Problems: The Constructionist View,’ Annual Review of Sociology 11: 209–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, Sue (1991). ‘The Impact of Women on State Legislative Policies,’ Journal of Politics 53 (4): 958–976.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vandell, Deborah et al. (1988). ‘A Longitudinal Study of Children with Day-Care Experiments of Varying Quality,’ Child Development 59 (5): 1286–1292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogel, David (1986). National Styles of Regulation: Environmental Policy in Great Britain and the U.S. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber-Nau, Monica (1990). ‘Wohin mil den Kindern?’ Stern, December: 80–92.

  • Weir, Margaret, Ann Orloff, and Theda Scocpol (1988). ‘Introduction: Understanding American Social Politics,’ in Margaret Weir, Ann Orloff and Theda Scocpol, eds. The Politics of Social Policy in the U.S. Princeton: Princeton University Press: 3–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisbrod, Burton (1988). The Nonprofit Economy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willer, Barbara et al. (1991). The Demand and Supply of Child Care in 1990. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gormley, W.T., Peters, B.G. National styles of regulation: Child care in three countries. Policy Sci 25, 381–399 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00138020

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00138020

Keywords

Navigation