The New Politics of Family Policy: Recent Trajectories in Italy and the UK

Journal of Social Research & Policy, Volume: 10, Issue: 2, Online First

Date: December 2019

ISSN: 2067-2640 (print), 2068-9861 (electronic)

Abstract: This article examines the recent trajectories in the new politics of family policies in Italy and the UK. At a theoretical level, it provides a framework for analyzing the political conflict between the old and the new family policies. Political actors are expected to take a position on both; their preferences depend on the specific intersections of the three social cleavages of class, religion, and gender. At the empirical level, through a qualitative content analysis of the policy reforms, the article illustrates which positions government parties in Italy - the Democratic party (PD) - and in the UK - the Conservative party - have taken on regarding the old and the new family policies in the last decade. The article shows that the Conservative party’s recalibration position and the PD’s expansion position are essentially the outcomes of a diverse intersection of the social cleavages that has provided the parties with different incentives and constraints to expand or retrench the old and the new family policies.

Keywords: Family Policy; New and Old Social Policies; New Social Risks; Italy; The UK.