Paper short abstract:

The relationship between kinship organisation and welfare state has become a prominent theme of current policy discourse. The EU-funded project 'Kinship and Social Security' investigates this theme in European comparison from various theoretical viewpoints. In this paper we discuss some findings.

Paper long abstract:

The relationship between kinship organisation, economic change and state institutions is a classic theme of social anthropological writing from Morgan to Godelier - as well as being central to the discipline of family history. It is also a prominent theme of contemporary policy discourse, put there by the impact of demographic change, by attempts to reduce the welfare state (and its virtual collapse in parts of eastern Europe), and by efforts to unify the welfare regimes in different parts of the European Union.

The EU-funded comparative research project on "Kinship and Social Security" (KASS) in Western, Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe looks at this theme from both historical and ethnographic perspectives, and from various theoretical viewpoints. In this paper we describe the overall design of the project, and present some of the historical findings (e.g. the impact of the establishment of state welfare systems for the elderly on intergenerational helping relations, the changing assumptions underlying family law, recent development of family/kinship oriented "proximity" residence structures in many parts of Europe, and the degree to which contemporary relations between state and family reflect pre-industrial patterns). Finally we review the significance of these findings - both for the ethnographic phase of KASS and, more widely, for kinship (and welfare state) research in Europe.