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Title:: Familialism, De-Familialization, and Re-Familialism:Practice and Implications of Family Policies in Welfare States

Abstract:: The family as a social unit faces a variety of challenges coming with the development of industrialization. Responding to these challenges, western countries have taken measures to regulate people’s family life, thus substantially promoting the development of family policies. A historical overview shows that after overcoming initial weaknesses in the late 19th century the family policies in western welfare states have undergone a golden period of switching from familialism to de-familialization and displayed more sophisticated features and convergent characteristics of transformation in that substantial support is given to different households while the responsibility each family should fulfill also emphasized. The rationale behind these policies is that: different countries should adopt a more inclusive and active vision to coordinate the different targets in family policies. In so doing, we could resolve the tension between familialism, de-famililization and re-familialism and promote a concerted development of both the members of a family and the family as whole, thus achieving a balanced allocation of resources among the members of a family.