Mothers, Families or Children?

Family Policy in Poland, Hungary, and Romania, 1945-2020

Tomasz Inglot, Dorottya Szikra, Cristina Raț

• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9780822947035
• eBook ISBN:
  9780822988670
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

Mothers, Families, or Children? is the first comparative-historical study of family policies in Poland, Hungary, and Romania from 1945 until the eve of the global pandemic in 2020. The book highlights the emergence, consolidation, and perseverance of three types of family policies based on "mother-orientation" in Poland, "family orientation" in Hungary, and "child-orientation" in Romania. It uses a new theoretical framework to identify core and contingent clusters of benefits and services in each country and trace their development across time and under different political regimes, before and after 1989. It also examines and compares policy continuity and change with special attention to institutions, ideas, and actors involved in decision making and reform. As family policies continue to evolve in the era of European Union membership and new governmental and societal actors emerge, this study reveals mechanisms that help preserve core family policy clusters while allowing reform in contingent ones in each country.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction. Family Policy Development in Central and Eastern Europe since 1945: A Comparative Historical Approach
• Part I. Family Policy Development in Poland, Hungary, and Romania from 1945 Until the Eu Accession in the Early 2000s
• Part II. Family Policy Reforms in Central and Eastern Europe in the Era of European Integration, Early 2000s–2020
• Conclusion. Understanding the Historical Trajectories of Family Policies in Eastern and Western Europe since 1945
• List of Interviews and Statistical Data Sources
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index