EXPECTATIONS RELATING TO CHILDCARE AMONG FRENCH AND SWEDISH FAMILIES

Abstract

This paper investigates how policy and values interrelate concerning expectations of childcare based on 80 interviews with 40 families with young children from France and Sweden, respectively. Upbringing, learning and socialization are important expectations among French parents. The results presented here are in line with educational goals that may have been influenced by policy. The findings suggest that France may, in terms of expectations on childcare, still belong to the conservative cluster as categorized by Esping-Andersen (1990), although family policy may differ from that of, for example, Germany and Italy in the same cluster. Swedish parents stress the importance of the individual child as well as pedagogy, thus, indicating compatibility between a parental wish for the individual development of the child and an emphasis on collective care in Swedish family policy.

Este artículo investiga como la política y los valores se interrelacionan en cuanto a expectativas de cuidado de los niños. 80 entrevistas con 40 familias con niños pequeños de Francia y Suecia respectivamente indican que educación, aprendizaje y socialización son expectativas importantes entre padres franceses. Los resultados aqui presentados siguen la linea de metas educativas que pueden haber sido influidas por la política. Las conclusiones sugieren que Francia, en cuanto a expectativas de cuidado de los niños, puede aun pertenecer al grupo conservador como clasificado por Esping-Andersen (1990), aunque la política familiar puede, por ejemplo, diferenciarse de la de Alemania e Italia en el mismo grupo. Los padres suecos hacen hincapié en la importancie de cada niño tanto como la pedagogía, indicando asi compatibilidad entre el deseo de los padres del desarrollo indivíduo del niños y un énfasis en colectivo cuidado en la política familiar sueca.

Keywords:

• childcare
• parental expectations
• family policy
• individualization
• socialization
• France
• Sweden

Palabras clave:

• cuidado delniño
• expectativas de los padres
• política familiar individualización
• socialización del niño
• Francia
• Suecia

The study Welfare and Solidarity in Postindustrial Europe has been conducted by the Department of Sociology, Umeå University, Sweden; Department of Social Sciences, Roskilde University, Denmark; and Department of Sociology, Copenhagen University, Denmark. This research has received financial support from the Swedish Council for Work Life (RALF) now Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS) and the Danish National Social Science Council. This paper has been presented at the national Conference in Sociology, Stockholm in 2004, where Betty Thomson provided important comments. I would also like to thank Ulla Björnberg, Thomas P. Boje, Lars Dahlgren, Carl Hult, Mikael Nordenmark, Ingrid Schild, Mikael Stattin and Rune Åberg for valuable comments on earlier versions, as well as those who kindly volunteered in the interviews. I greatly appreciate the thorough comments of the two anonymous reviewers.