Reconciliation Policy in Germany 1998–2008: Construing the ’Problem’ of the Incompatibility of Paid Employment and Care Work

Cornelius Grebe offers an analysis of work-family reconciliation policy in Germany during the Socialdemocrat-Green coalition government of 1998 to 2005. His emphasis lies on Anti-Discrimination Policy, Childcare Policy, Parental Leave Policy, and Working Time Policy. The study combines a social constructionist stance with an alternative feminist standpoint, thus offering a new methodology for political science. Although no ready-made solutions to the incompatibility problem are suggested, its changed representation is analyzed closely, leading to engaging conclusions about how policy might be different if policy-makers understood the problems differently.
The study is an entirely original contribution to understanding social policy in Germany and essential reading for researchers and students from the social sciences, in particular sociology and political science.