Acta academica karviniensia 2011, 11(3):91-102 | DOI: 10.25142/aak.2011.049

THE HARMONIZING OF FAMILY LIFE AND WORK IN THE CONTEXT OF TYPOLOGY OF THE WELFARE STATE

Eva Rievajová¹, Zuzana Poláčiková²

¹ prof. Ing. Eva Rievajová, Ph.D., Katedra sociálneho rozvoja a práce, Národohospodárska fakulta, Ekonomická univerzita Bratislava, Dolnozemská cesta 1, 852 35 Bratislava, eva.rievajova@euba.sk

² Ing. Zuzana Poláčiková, Katedra sociálneho rozvoja a práce, Národohospodárska fakulta, Ekonomická univerzita Bratislava, Dolnozemská cesta 1, 852 35 Bratislava, susy_polacikova@yahoo.com

This paper deals with theoretical approaches to the harmonization of family life and work based on the Esping-Andersen's typology of the welfare state. In the first chapter we characterize three basic types of the welfare state: liberal, conservative-corporatist and social democratic. We focus on the essential features, on the relationship between the state and the market, the level of stratification and decommodification in these different types. In the second chapter we analyze familiarization of the welfare state typology, refering to the criticism, which calls into questioning the ability of commodification by which Orloff underestimates this ability for some members of the society; we discuss approaches to social welfare, to the issues of decommodification and defamiliarization; we stress the term "women friendly" as one of the fundamental basis for the problem of reconciliation of work and family life. Systems of the social states vary widely in how they support parents in their efforts to balance work and family care, integration of mothers into the labor market, which subsequently affects the birth rate and the aging of the population.

Keywords: the harmonizing of family and work life, welfare state, liberal type, conservative-corporatist type, social democratic type, employment of women, gender equality

JEL classification: J11, J13

Published: September 30, 2011  Show citation