Abstract
“ Family” has been frequently discussed in the policy making process, since the Basic Structural Reform of Social Welfare started in the 1990s. Especially, with the advancement of an “aging society with lower birth rate ” and the problems and conflicts that modern families face, supporting the necessity of the Basic Structural Reform of Social Welfare has become a major topic. As a result, it has become the focus of debates regarding “family welfare” and “family policies” in recent research of both Family Studies and Social Welfare Studies. However, most of those debates have not reached a consensus on basic concepts, but also remain futile arguments on ideologies. The task of developing accumulative research in the area of “families and welfare policies” remains.
In this paper, the three issues, of “policy categories as subjects for examination,” “the division of policy domains,” and “influence of value factors” are discussed as the main reasons for confusion in debates of “families and welfare policies.” Then, recent progress made in both studies of the changes in the family structure and of the welfare reform are investigated, as significant and challenging factors at the interface between these two areas of study. The arguments will be explored based on the three criteria, “principles of family self-help,” “norms of gender and generation,” and “principles of self-determination.”
