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Job Insecurity and the Timing of Parenthood: A Comparison between Eastern and Western Germany
- Source :
- European Journal of Population
- Publication Year :
- 2007
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2007.
-
Abstract
- This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the economic determinants of fertility behavior by addressing the role of job insecurity in couples’ intentions concerning parenthood and its timing. It starts from the hypothesis that cultural values moderate individuals’ reactions to job insecurity and the way it is related to family formation. With a systematic thematic content analysis of a set of semi-structured interviews with childless men and women around the age of 30 in eastern and western Germany, we are able to show that there are substantial differences in the consequences of job insecurity on intentions to have a first child. In western Germany, a relatively secure job career is expected to precede family formation, and this sequence of transitions is rather rigid, whereas in eastern Germany job security and family formation are thought of and practiced as parallel investments. We suggest that the lack of convergence in family formation patterns between eastern and western Germany after the unification of the country in 1990 is partially related to different attitudes toward job insecurity in the two contexts.
- Subjects :
- media_common.quotation_subject
Fertility
Changement social
Article
Germany
Human geography
Qualitative interviews
Formation des familles
Sociology
Fécondité
Entretiens qualitatifs
Demography
media_common
Job insecurity
Family formation
Social change
Allemagne
Convergence (economics)
Job security
Insécurité de l’emploi
Demographic economics
Thematic analysis
Social psychology
Public finance
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15729885 and 01686577
- Volume :
- 24
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- European Journal of Population / Revue européenne de Démographie
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....16270b87a1a293de8589f8fa375c4e8b
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-007-9127-5