Origins
Esping-Andersen's welfare regime typology centred on decommodification. Feminist scholars replied that many women are tied to unpaid family care before they are ever commodified. Lister (1994) defined defamilialization as the degree to which adults can uphold a decent standard of living independently of family relationships; Esping-Andersen (1999) adopted it as the extent to which welfare and care responsibilities shift from families to the state or market.
Leitner's varieties of familialism
- Explicit familialism: supports family care with few alternatives.
- Optional familialism: offers both public services and support for family care.
- Implicit familialism: offers neither, leaving care to families by default.
- De-familialism: strong services, weak support for family care.
Fraser's model
Fraser went beyond the universal breadwinner and caregiver parity models to propose a universal caregiver model in which men and women both earn and care, warning that defamilialization should not simply shift care to low-paid women in the market, a theme within feminist theory.
Korea
Long close to implicit familialism, Korea expanded socialised care with long-term care insurance (2008), free childcare for ages 0-5 (2013), extended parental leave and community care. Market-dominated provision, low pay for care workers and home-care allowances remain issues, tied to gender equity debates in low fertility theory.
References
- Lister, R. (1994). "She has other duties": Women, citizenship and social security. In S. Baldwin & J. Falkingham (Eds.), Social Security and Social Change. Harvester Wheatsheaf.
- Esping-Andersen, G. (1999). Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies. Oxford University Press.
- Leitner, S. (2003). Varieties of familialism: The caring function of the family in comparative perspective. European Societies, 5(4), 353-375.
- Fraser, N. (1994). After the family wage: Gender equity and the welfare state. Political Theory, 22(4), 591-618.