ABSTRACT
This book explores the role of the family household in the production of well-being through labour – both remunerated and non-remunerated – as well as through the use of public institutions. The family mediates the relationship between individuals and the economy and its organization is a key means by which people experience material well-being (Horrell, Meredith and Oxley 2009: 94). Thus the book also considers the ‘distribution’ of well-being among members of the family household. It explores these themes within a European context, with essays focusing on both historical and contemporary situations. Another key focus is on the role of gender in the production of well-being within the family. Feminist scholars have long pointed out the relevance of the unpaid work that goes on within the household to sustain processes of social reproduction. Care work and domestic labour remain unremunerated and unequally distributed by gender, so that women undertake the majority of this work. Some scholars have sought to identify, measure and value this labour and to see it as a significant contribution to well-being that is different from, but no less valuable than, market production (for example, Picchio 1992). Nevertheless, conventional approaches still tend to neglect the contribution of unpaid work to well-being and to interpret the family as a homogeneous and systemic unit – a haven of benevolence and altruism that stands in sharp contrast to the competition and selfishness of the wider economy. Such perspectives ignore or obscure conflicts and inequalities in the distribution of resources between family members or within households.
