Family Values and Attitudes

Abstract

According to studies of European values, traditional values — respect for authority, a hierarchical picture of society and subordination of the individual to the group — show a general decline to the benefit of universal individualism — valuing the primacy of an individual’s freedom of choice, equal rights and the questioning of traditional centres of power and authority. This gradual shift characterizes attitudes concerning work, politics, religion as well as the family (Michalski and Tallberg, 1999; Therborn, 1995). This chapter reviews the values and attitudes that Europeans in general and Finns and Spaniards in particular hold regarding the family, assessing whether the values and attitudes are congruent with the family ideologies discussed above.