Family change, intergenerational relations and policy development in contemporary France

This article examines the impact of changing family structures on intergenerational relations in contemporary France. It explores the ways in which policy has responded to these changes and sought to influence the direction of change. The author argues that, in a context of population ageing and rapid socio-economic development, family forms and living arrangements have become more diversified and complex, creating new challenges for family members and requiring innovative policy responses. The article draws on socio-demographic data and evidence from social policy analyses to track changing family structures and associated patterns of intergenerational solidarity. It documents attempts by policy-makers to establish and support a new social contract between the generations. Although many of the trends reported are common to other advanced Western societies, the author identifies distinctive features in the role played by the state in France in fostering and supporting intergenerational relations and solidarities. Other governments, including in East Asian countries, have looked for lessons that might be learned from the French case, but without, it is argued, being able to reproduce the necessary societal conditions that have allowed the French family-friendly policy model to develop and prosper.