About FamiliesAndSocieties
Main objectives
- To investigate the diversity of family forms, relationships, and life courses in Europe
- To assess the compatibility of existing policies to family changes
- To contribute to evidence-based policy-making
Our overall conceptual framework
is based on three key premises
- Family life courses are becoming more diverse.
- The interdependency of lives matters.
- Social contexts and policies matter.
Building upon these premises we
- Explore the growing complexity of family
configurations and transitions. - Examine their implications for men, women
and children with respect to inequalities
in life chances, intergenerational relations
and care arrangements. - Investigate how policies address family diversity.
- Develop short- and longer-term projections.
- Identify future policy needs.
Conceptual framework:
Social processes and social structures
shaping inequalities and social well-being
Transversal dimensions
Four transversal dimensions are embedded in the conceptual framework:
- Gender
- Culture (ethnic and cultural identities, sexual orientation)
- Socioeconomic resources
- Life stages
The interactions between these transversals with the fundamental processes shape the outcomes of the diversification of family life courses for individuals and societies; (re-)produce inequalities across the life course and across generations; and shape the policy responses that are appropriate in order to promote positive objectives.
Our work is organized in 12 work packages. Read more
