Redefining social desirability: Policies for alternative families in Europe and in Romania

The crisis in family policies of the welfare state is not only caused by economic and demographic factors but also because these policies have not been adjusted to the changing values and lifestyles of the population. The welfare state has as its main target group a stable, legally constituted nuclear family with a male breadwinner in the context of a heterosexual marriage. However, the welfare state is not yet prepared for alternative families, such as: dual-career families, multi-generational families, single-parent families, cohabitations, homosexual couples, blended families, trans-national families, etc. This paper draws on a research project rather than on completed research. We intend to review more potential explanations for analysing the recent reforms of policies for alternative families but our focus is on the role of paradigm shifts at national and supranational (EU) levels, with a mini-case study on Romania. The recent paradigm shift is the result of a permanent and mutual adjustment between political mobilisations, governments and public opinion. The EU approach regarding alternative families originated in the family policies of its member states, but afterwards it became autonomous and began to influence domestic family policies, as was the case in Romania. The methods we intend to use in order to answer our research objectives and hypotheses are based mainly on secondary analyses: documentary analysis, discourse analysis, and analysis of databases of opinion polls.