The Explanation of Ideology: Family Structures and Social Systems

Todd, Emmanuel; Garrioch, David

doi:10.2307/1864385

Cited by 34 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Against the backdrop of communism weakening the family, we document robust evidence that EC increased the demand for informal family insurance. Although political regimes are argued to result from family structures (Todd, 1985), in this paper we document that exposure to a political regime: Soviet communism increased the strength of family supports (insurance), alongside other forms of insurance. More specifically we show evidence of an average increase in the preference for family support to care for older parents by 10 percentag ponts (pp) and by 4 pp with regards to care and support for pre-school and adult children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…Although family structures are argued to reflect the ideologies that have shaped the history of the 20th century (Todd, 1985) and to reinforce inequality (Marx & Engels, 2013), we contend that preferences for family support (or informal family insurance) are endogenous to political regimes. By abolishing formal wealth accumulation, communism might have created parallel informal incentives to develop family networks further, being a source of informal insurance, which we define as the 'informality hypothesis'.…”

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confidence: 90%

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Comrades in the family? Soviet communism and demand for family insurance

Costa-i-Font

Nicińska

2023

Kyklos

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We study how exposure to (Soviet) communism (EC), a political‐economic regime based on collectivist state planning, affected the preferences for family support, which we refer to as informal family insurance. Against the backdrop that ‘communism gave rise to the abolition of the family’, we document that it actually strengthened the preference (the demand) for informal family insurance without depressing individuals' preferences for social insurance. We exploit cross‐country and cohort variation in EC on more than 314,000 individuals living in 33 Central and Eastern European countries, among which 14 had been subject to communist regimes. We estimate that EC gave rise to 9.6 percentage point (pp) increase in the preference for family care for older parent and 4.3 pp increase in the support (both financial and nonfinancial) for children. These effects are explained by the strengthening of social and family networks that resulted from the erosion of generalized, interpersonal and institutional trust, rather than by ‘indoctrination effects’ during Soviet communism times.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

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confidence: 90%

Comrades in the family? Soviet communism and demand for family insurance

Costa-i-Font

Nicińska

2023

Kyklos

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“…Inadequate public support, as well as the cultural celebration of family in the South (Iacovou 2010), make kin coresidence a normative strategy for dealing with longer‐term needs (Esping‐Andersen 1999; Saraceno and Keck 2010; Sobotka 2008b). Financial and practical help take place mostly within the household, perhaps because of limited resources (Isengard, König, and Szydlik 2018) or because of stricter parental authority (Todd 1985). And while the diffusion of growth‐oriented values and public support for working mothers may reduce the willingness and the necessity to engage in multigenerational living arrangements also there (Lesthaeghe 2010; Sobotka 2008b), long‐standing cultural and institutional differences make it unlikely that these family systems will converge (Reher 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single Motherhood and Multigenerational Coresidence in Europe

Hogendoorn¹,

Härkönen²

2023

Population & Development Rev

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Single motherhood has increased throughout Europe. Single mothers assume the dual role of provider and caregiver and often need external support from public policies or kin to meet their needs. Research has focused primarily on public policies, disregarding the role of kin support—and of multigenerational coresidence in particular. This study provides the first detailed description of single mothers’ multigenerational coresidence in Europe. To do so, we combine census and survey microdata from 31 European countries. The data reveal large geographic variation in single mothers’ coresidence. Whereas coresidence is a rare and temporary living arrangement in Northern and Western Europe, it is common and more permanent in Southern, Central, and especially Eastern Europe. At the same time, coresidence has declined in almost all countries with data from the past half‐century. These findings suggest large and persistent variation in kin support for single mothers and thus question the assumption of its marginal role in Europe.

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“…However, this work does not measure actual family structure, and self-reported family values may be endogenous to political attitudes. Todd (1985) relates the dominant kinship structure in a country to its system of government. In addition to examining systems of government rather than attitudes, endogeneity also poses serious threats to his framework.…”

Section: Family Ties and The Cultural Evolution Of Value Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancestral Kinship and the Origins of Ideology

Fasching

Lelkes

2023

Brit. J. Polit. Sci.

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Families are not only the first institution ever created, they are also, for most people, the first institution ever encountered. The preindustrial family structure, which was a function of local ecology and cooperation needs, instilled family members with different values, such as trust in strangers and respect for elders. These values passed through generations and, as we show in three studies, impact today's political attitudes and policies. First, using surveys of second-generation immigrants representing roughly 180 ethnicities living in 32 European countries, we show that the tighter kinship structure of a person's ancestors predicts right-wing cultural attitudes. Among those who are less engaged in politics, tighter ancestral kinship structure also predicts left-wing economic attitudes. In a second study, we control for country-level differences by comparing ethnic groups within countries and find that ancestral kinship strength predicts right-wing cultural attitudes but not left-wing economic attitudes. Finally, in a third study, we examine the policy implications of ancestral kinship. We show that stronger country-level ancestral kinship strength also increases anti-LGBT policies and welfare spending. Finally, we examine whether value systems link preindustrial kinship with modern political attitudes. In total, this work indicates that our political beliefs are rooted in the value systems and familial institutions created by our forebears.

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The Explanation of Ideology: Family Structures and Social Systems

Cited by 34 publications

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Comrades in the family? Soviet communism and demand for family insurance

Comrades in the family? Soviet communism and demand for family insurance

Single Motherhood and Multigenerational Coresidence in Europe

Ancestral Kinship and the Origins of Ideology

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