The formation of family policy attitudes

The Role of Justice Perceptions in the Division of Household Labour

Bibliographic Data

ID2116541
AuthorsAnna Helgøy (0000-0003-3435-5478, University of Oslo, corresponding author), Arno Van Hootegem (0000-0002-9559-8038, University of Oslo)
Year2024
Volume55
Issue2
Pages1-17
Publication date2024-11-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-2794 • E-ISSN: 1469-7823
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047279424000345
OpenAlexW4404866146
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited50

Welfare state attitudes make up an interactive feedback loop of defining popular legitimacy and future policy trajectories. Understanding attitudinal drivers is thus essential political knowledge. However, as existing research is mainly based on the work-nexus of welfare, this article expands the literature to the welfare state's care-nexus, examining drivers of family policy attitudes. We argue that conventional attitude predictors of self-interest and ideology are insufficient to explain the attitudinal cleavage in family policy. Instead, justice perceptions in the division of physical and cognitive household labour represent an important normative battleground. We test this with Norwegian survey data (N = 3500), using a unique vignette experiment to operationalise justice perceptions. Findings show that individuals who do not perceive a disproportional household labour division as unfair prefer optional familialism within family policy. Individuals who do perceive unfairness in a disproportional household labour division prefer de-familialism, which facilitates gender equality in public and private spheres. This is consistently found for the physical division of labour, while the cognitive dimension seems less politicised. We conclude that the battleground for different family policy approaches is fundamentally normative and linked to justice considerations on gender roles

Demographic economics · Division (mathematics) · Division of labour · Economic Justice · Economics · Labour economics · Market economy · Microeconomics · Perception · Sociology · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Psychology · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges

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