<論文>フランス福祉国家の変容と子どものケア --「 アジア化するヨーロッパ」仮説の検討--

Abstract

This article is an outcome of a project on changing childcare and elderly care and the roles of family, state, market and community in France and other parts of Europe, as compared with Asian countries. Due to rapid changes on both sides, a new landscape is emerging. We are discussing welfare retrenchment and refamilialization in Europe and the development of welfare states in Asia. We are inclined to ask if Europe is becoming Asia and if Asia is becoming Europe. This article is a result of the project to test these hypotheses based on data analyses on European countries and intensive field works on childcare in France. "Asianization of Europe" is defined firstly as the decrease in public social expenditure. The analysis of the OECD data on social expenditure since the 1980s denies it, while it proves a shift from pension spending to family benefits which we can call the rise of a social investment welfare state. The alleged shift from in-kind benefits to cash benefits is not supported in the area of family spending in most countries but France that saw a decline in in-kind family benefits, which reflects the policy direction to promote individual contracts with assistantes maternelles instead of constructing new creches. "Asianization of Europe" can also be defined as the changing shape of the care diamond that consists of four sectors: state, market, family and association or community. The market sector is expanding for commodification of care is wide-spread, but regulation and subsidies from the state are indispensable for its development. The association sector is playing a significant role particularly in the area of child protection, but it is also receiving regulation and subsidies from the state. The grandparents in the family and kin sector have always been a great support for the parents, but their current role is complementary to the state: they are filling the gap between formal childcare and necessity. The shape of the care diamond has changed, but it does not mean that the state sector has shrunk. On the contrary, the state sector has even expanded and mixed with the other three sectors, playing the roles of regulator and financer. To conclude, at least in the area of childcare in France the "Asianization of Europe" hypothesis cannot be supported.