‘Stay home’: age and gender frames and limits of residential family solidarities in the times of lockdown (a French example)

ABSTRACT

During the Covid-19 crisis, the residents of France were invited to stay at their homes. This representation of family as a shelter in case of difficulties has been prevailing within French family policies since the 1980s. In this paper, we question this integrating role family played during the lockdown through an on-line survey carried out during the shutdown. A sample of 4300 persons sheds light on the experience of this exceptional period. Four main results are presented in the article. Firstly, the residents of France of our sample tended to join their partner or family members. Secondly, the regrouping was gender-related: women were more often locked-downed with their relatives. Thirdly, this regrouping is linked to age – young people were more often welcomed in the households of their relatives than older adults or the elderly. And fourthly, the education level is also a relevant factor of family reunification for the lockdown.

KEYWORDS:

• Family
• lockdown
• household
• solidarity
• inequalities
• Covid-19 crisis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2020/03/16/adresse-aux-francais-covid19

2 “a household that is composed of neither a single person nor a single family (a couple without children, a couple with children, or a single-parent family)” https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/definition/c1641

3 It was an open-ended question: “Why are you locked-down in this residence?”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Veronika Kushtanina

Veronika Kushtanina is assistant professor in sociology at the University Bourgogne Franche-Comté (LASA-UBFC). Her PhD thesis explored grandparenting in France and Russia. Her current research is focused on different ages of life and biographical narratives, analyzed from the perspective of family roles and relationships, chronic illness and disorders, as well as caregiving. Among her recent publications: COLLECTIF.B. (É. DION, V. KUSHTANINA, E. LAGIER, E. PAPE, C. PERRIN-JOLY, J. PLé, P. ROBIN, B. SAVINEL, R. SCHLAGDENHAUFFEN) (EDS.), 2020, PARLER DE SOI: MéTHODES BIOGRAPHIQUES EN SCIENCES SOCIALES, ÉDITIONS DE L’EHESS; Vinel, V., & Kushtanina, V. (2019). Agency or disempowerment: Children with learning disorders in France. Salute E Società, vol. 3, pp. 107-18; V. Kushtanina, 2019, Transition de l’époque soviétique à la période post-soviétique au prisme de biographies singulières. Clio. Femmes, Genre, Histoire, n°49, pp. 239–60. http://lasa.univ-fcomte.fr/pages/fr/kushtanina-veronika-18751.html

Virginie Vinel

Virginie Vinel is full professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University Bourgogne Franche-Comté (LaSA UBFC). Her research interests are age of life and age transitions, gender, health and family. She aims at understanding the course of life by articulating the dimensions of age, gender, family and body. Her main works focus on childhood, adolescence, mid-life and aging. Among her recent publications: Vinel V. and Zaltron F. (Ed.), 2020, « Enfants. Contraintes et pouvoir d’agir », Revue des Sciences sociales, n°63, 2019, on line: https://journals.openedition.org/revss/4727; Diasio N and Vinel V. (Ed.), 2017, Corps et preadolescence. Intime, privé, public, Rennes, PUR, 2017; Vinel, V., & Kessler-Bilthauer, D., 2017, Se soigner en zone rurale lorraine: Domestication du système de soin et encadrement familial des trajectoires individuelles. Enfances Familles Générations. Revue interdisciplinaire sur la famille contemporaine, (28) online: http://journals.openedition.org/efg/1609. http://lasa.univ-fcomte.fr/pages/fr/menu4048/le-laboratoire/vinel-virginie-19802-17681.html