From Defamilialization to Degenderization: Toward a New Welfare Typology

This article discusses the debate on gendering welfare states. It criticizes typologies based on the differentiation between degrees of familialization and defamilialization and proposes a new typology based on the notion of genderization and degenderization. It also argues against the notion of regime types, which includes outputs in their classification systems. Instead it argues that typologies should concentrate on policies to make it possible for researchers and policymakers to analyze the influence of different types of policies on different societies. It is important to know whether similar policies would lead to different outcomes under different socio-economic or cultural conditions. The article goes on to show how one could analyze family policies based on a typology based on genderization and degenderization.