Family life and individual welfare in post-war Europe : Britain and Italy compared / Stefania Bernini.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bernini, Stefania.

Series:

St. Antony's series (Palgrave Macmillan (Firm))

St. Antony's series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Families--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Families.

Family policy--Great Britain--20th century.

Family policy.

Families--Italy--History--20th century.

Family policy--Italy--History--20th century.

History.

Italy.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

vii, 199 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke [England] ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan ; [Oxford] : In association with St. Antony's College, 2007.

Summary:

What makes a family? As traditional definitions of what constitute a family seem to be increasingly challenged in public debates, Stefania Bernini explores which factors were most influential in shaping dominant notions of family life in the post-war period. Taking Britain and Italy as comparative cases, she shows how in both countries the family was used in the post-war period as a privileged means of pursuing political interests, partly as a consequence of the new political landscape created by the emergence of the welfare state. However, approaches to the regulation of family life ultimately diverged in Italy and Britain, as a result of long-established cultural differences and contingent political factors. The book identifies the main areas in which this divergence was apparent, and discusses the long-term consequences of the different routes followed by the two countries after the Second World War.

Contents:

Family, state and democratic development in Britain and Italy

The family in the political debate

Moral and scientific discussions

The edges of the family : state, citizens and the 'children deprived of a normal home life'

Recreating the family : single mothers, maladjusted children and the search for a new home.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [170]-193) and index.

ISBN:

1403987955

9781403987952

OCLC:

144547698

Online:

Contributor biographical information