The Age of Austerity Vs. the Golden Age: A New Historical Explanation of Family Policy Continuity and Change in Europe

This paper proposes a new historical explanation of family policy development across Europe during the current “age of austerity.” I argue that in this policy area specific patterns of path-dependence and/or path-departure are deeply rooted in the period of the “Golden Age” of the welfare state. First, I distinguish “core” and “contingent” clusters of family policy programs that consolidated during by the 1970s. Second, I identify three main mechanisms of transmission of historical legacies over time –layering, agency-based transmission, and cultural and ideational transpositions. Third, I argue that current path-departing reforms are successful only within contingent clusters while core clusters remain consistently resilient, and even occassionally expand due to unexpected congruence between current reforms and certain institutional and ideational foundations of family policy established during the Golden Age. This analysis draws on an in-depth comparative analysis of Poland, Hungary, and Romania, but also discusses the possibility of applying the same analytical framework to Germany, France, and Italy.