Social and family policies in Europe today

Abstract

From its inception family and social policy was an expression of the value conflicts and compromises concerning the aims and means of social welfare. In the course of time it made adjustments to respond to new needs. The demographic, social and economic developments of the last twenty years - especially after the economic recession of the mid-1970's - are too complex. They affect directly the family. The relationships between family and social policy as 'providers' of entitlements and services on the one hand, and families as beneficiaries on the other, are increasingly becoming the subject of numerous scientific and other public criticisms. It has become clear that neither the target groups and scope (e.g. the extensiveness of coverage and range of groups that benefit), nor the areas of human needs and spheres of life it focuses on (e.g. child rearing, shelter, security, etc.) or the 'fields' of societal activity it covers (e.g. labour, family, public health, social security, etc.) are covered in a satisfactory way any longer. The very assumptions upon which family and social policy were founded - coverage of a whole range of risks, procurement of preventive or promotional services - are not implemented properly by state bureaucracies which more often than not lead beneficiaries to a condition of total dependency for life.