The Modernization of Family and Motherhood in Western Europe

Abstract

Abstract In the last decades the social practices of motherhood have changed substantially in Europe. Women have to an increasing degree entered the labour market, particularly in the phase of ’active motherhood’-that is, when their children are still young. As a result, the employed mother has become a new norm in Europe. These changes are reflected in the experiences of childhood. In many European countries, young children in particular are cared for to a greater extent by public institutions. These developments are part and parcel of the social processes of individualization that emerged after the Second World War (Beck 1986) and have contributed to the erosion of traditional forms of the family.

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