Family, Work and Welfare policies: Looking at Central, Eastern and Southern Europe

This paper takes an innovative look at work-family policies and, in particular, at the current work-family reconciliation issues, in different European countries: the relational differentiation in work family issues. This relation differentiation shapes the specialization of different life spheres, or subsystems, (family and work) through new form of interchange which are characterized by spill-over functions and which make use of a code of mutual referencing to specialize for interrelations between subsystems. How is the situation evolving in Europe, and towards which model – functional, or relational differentiation? This paper wishes to answer these questions. These concerns are all the more pressing in the current climate/given the current social and political situation. New countries have joined the EU, thereby leading to a change of previous balances and structures, and there is a commitment on the part of all nations, in compliance with the indications provided by the European masterplan. Policies and, in general, whole legislative apparatuses pertaining to work-family measures, have thus been introduced or extensively reviewed/modified. A comparison between Central, Eastern and Southern Europe, with in-depth studies regarding different geographical contexts, will highlight emerging tendencies in family and work choices and the best policies concerning this topic.