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Theories about intergenerational solidarity

Theories about intergenerational solidarity. Matthijs Kalmijn Department of Social Cultural Sciences Tilburg University, Netherlands Lecture for Socrates Intensive Program 2006. Intergenerational solidarity. Exchanges between (older) parents and (grown-up) children. Types of support.

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Theories about intergenerational solidarity

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  1. Theories about intergenerational solidarity Matthijs Kalmijn Department of Social Cultural Sciences Tilburg University, Netherlands Lecture for Socrates Intensive Program 2006

  2. Intergenerational solidarity • Exchanges between (older) parents and (grown-up) children

  3. Types of support • Practical support (services) • Financial support • Social support (visits, contact, attention)

  4. Definition • Doing something that is a benefit to the other (and a cost to you) • Both directions: • Upward (from children to parents) • Downward (from parents to children)

  5. Research issues • Variation in intergenerational solidarity • Across individuals • Across social groups • Across countries • Over time

  6. Theories • Exchange • Altruism • Norms

  7. Theories - continued • Emphasized by different disciplines • Norms – traditional sociological model of man • Exchange – traditional economic model of man • Altruism – psychology and sociology • Competing theories • Which theory is most valid? • More general theoretical issue • How do we explain people’s social behavior?

  8. (1) Exchange • Rational actors • Considerations of costs and benefits for ego • Selfish actors • Act only when benefits ego > costs ego • People do something for their parents because it makes them better off

  9. Forms of exchange • Direct exchange • Quid pro quo (Something for something) • Delayed exchange • Parents invest in children early in life and children give support back later • Insurance element • Uncertainty • Prospective exchange • Children give support to parents in order to receive something later from their parents

  10. Empirical test 1 • Hypothesis: • The support of parents to children decreases over the life course and the support of children to parents increases over the life course

  11. Empirical test 2 • Hypothesis: • The more parents have invested in children when the children are young, the more support they receive from the children when they are old

  12. Empirical test 3 • Hypothesis: • The more wealth parents have, the more often children visit their parents • Research on bequests • Confirms hypothesis! • Only in multiple child families

  13. (2) Altruism • Critique on exchange • Different types of relations • Different types of behavior

  14. Definition of altruism • Altruism is doing something for someone out of concern for the other’s well-being • Rational behavior • Behavior based on the costs/benefits for the other

  15. Empirical test 1 • Hypothesis • The greater the need of the parent, the more support the children will give • Evidence • More support to widowed parents than to married parents • More support to ill parents than to healthy parents

  16. Empirical test 2 • Hypothesis • The greater the need of the child, the more support the parent will give • Research on financial transfers to children • Comparisons across children • The poorest children do not get more than the richest children • Equity versus need

  17. (3) Norms • General expectation of how to act • External norm (via sanctions) • Internalized norm • Norms of filial obligation • Feeling that one should care for one’s family • Unconditional • Should not depend on own cost • Should not depend on own what they did for you (or did not do for you) • Norm of reciprocity • Feeling that one should ‘return favors’

  18. child sibling grandc parent niece grandp cousin aunt

  19. Empirical test 1 • Hypothesis • The more people adhere to kinship norms, the more support they give to their parents • Research shows positive relationship for individual adult children • Macro-level test

  20. Causal direction? causal effect Norms of filial obligation Support to parents attitude adjustment

  21. Alternative test • Test of: • Norm of reciprocity versus rational exchange • Focus on consequences of support: • Perceived quality • Consider the following possibilities: • Ego gives more • Balance • Ego gives less

  22. Conclusion • Solidarity toward the elderly is perfectly compatible with a rational and selfish model of man • The high levels of family solidarity in southern Europe (compared to the western/northern parts of Europe) point to higher levels of altruism in the south • Coresidence of parents and older children is not a form of “children helping parents” – it is a continuation of “parents helping children” • The lower levels of intergenerational contact among the higher educated can be explained by weaker norms of filial obligation among the higher educated • The increase in divorce threatens intergenerational solidarity

  23. More reading? • Review paper (presented to Netspar) http://www.netspar.nl/events/pensiondays/upcoming/nov24/

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