Work,family and public policy dynamics in France

To understand the relationships between changes to the family and changes to the sphere of work and employment, and how they have developed over time, requires considering a third factor, i.e. public policies, and in particular family policies. In this article, we attempt to clarify theoretically these interactions by taking into account the changes that have taken place in France since World War II. To appraise the French configuration in a special issue on Southern Europe, we begin by explaining why we consider France is following a ‘Southern path’. In a second section, we argue that family transformations are mainly the result of changes that affect work and employment. A similar process combining individualisation, flexibility and precariousness is affecting both spheres of existence. In a last section, we prose a matrix of ideas, ideologies and outcomes to understand the main family policy reforms since World War II.     

La convention et la recommandation de l'OIT sur les travailleurs domestiques: une ouverture pour la justice sociale

Les travailleurs domestiques constituent une main‐d'?uvre largement féminine, dont les droits sociaux ont été négligés depuis toujours. Il devenait d'autant plus urgent d'agir que la demande de services domestiques et à la personne augmente fortement. La convention n° 189 et la recommandation n° 201 établissent des normes minimales pour le travail domestique. L'auteur fait le point sur les textes internationaux applicables avant 2011, puis présente les définitions et le champ d'application des deux instruments, avant d'en venir à leurs dispositions sur le temps de travail, la rémunération, l'environnement de travail, les conditions de vie, la sécurité sociale et à leur mise en application.     

Interventions to Improve Late Life

This is an expanded version of comments on the future of the demography of aging at an invited session of the 2008 annual meeting of the Population Association of America. In an introduction, John Haaga offers reasons for a revival of interest in population aging, including greater realization of plasticity in aging trajectories at both individual and societal levels. Linda Martin proposes that population scientists working in aging emulate those studying fertility and family planning in previous decades, learning from interventions (in this case, aimed at increasing retirement savings and reducing disability at older ages). Changes in family structure will increasingly affect new cohorts of the elderly, and Linda Waite speculates on the ways in which changes in the economy, medicine, and the legal environment could affect the social context for aging. Research on mortality at older ages is “alive and well” asserts James Vaupel, who sets out six large questions on mortality trends and differentials over time and across species. Lastly, Wolfgang Lutz expands the scope of projections, showing the considerable uncertainty about the timing and pace of population aging in the developing world and the effects on future elderly of the increases in educational attainment in much of the world during the second half of the twentieth century.     

Markov Poisson regression models for discrete time series. Part 2: Applications

This paper applies the Markov Poisson regression methodology of Wang and Puterman to the analysis of seizure frequencies in an epilepsy clinical trial and counts of poliomyelitis cases. The analysis of the poliomyelitis data is compared with that of Zeger.     

Sozioökonomische Entwicklung und Wertvorstellungen in elf Regionen der Türkei

Being an official EU candidate country since 2005 Turkey has also become an interesting object of investigation for empirical social science, especially in the field of value research. In this article we examine value orientations in different regions of Turkey. Contrary to previous country-comparing studies our regional approach accounts for the immense developmental gaps which exist within Turkey. In line with central assumptions of modernization theory we expect values of tolerance and individual autonomy in high developed regions and, on the other side, dogmatic beliefs, intolerance and authoritarian attitudes being predominant in weaker developed regions. First, regional stages of modernization are specified using macro indicators like GDP, education, urbanity, the occupational structure, and fertility rate from the official statistics of Turkey. The regional spectrum varies from extremely poor developed rural-agrarian regions in the east to industrialized regions with high degrees of urbanization up to the rich regions in the west with well developed infastructure and service sector. Second, Multiple Correspondence Analyses carried out with data from the European Values Study 2000 show that value differences concerning democratic culture, religiosity, secularity and sexual tolerance occur as expected according to socio-economic disparities between regions. Additionally, we find evidence that independent from socio-economic factors value orientations of people are also shaped by other influences like the minority situation or political stability in a region.     

Roma Education in Eastern and Central Europe: some personal reflections

In this article I reflect on my experiences working on educational projects involving Roma in Eastern and Central Europe, especially in Bulgaria. I discuss one particular case study, in which a group of educational experts were able to get the Bulgarian Government to accept and later to support intercultural education materials on the Roma. I also outline an educational approach that I would like to call the “bottle party” approach to education, to be contrasted with the “vessel filling” approach. I close by describing a new initiative in informal education in Central and Eastern Europe that revolves around the concepts of empowerment and mentorship.