Between moral acceptance and objective needs: outsourcing domestic and care services in Germany and in international comparison

在道德接受和客观需求之间：德国外包家政和护理服务以及国际比较

• 批准号: 404875417
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Natascha Nisic
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Arbeitsbereich Soziologie und Methoden der quantitativen Sozialforschung
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2017-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/404875417?language=en
• 关键词: Between; moral; acceptance; objective; needs

An essential part of social welfare production involves unpaid, private care work in the household that is provided primarily by women. However, the significant increases in the labor force attachment of women, demographic shifts, and the ongoing cutback of social security systems are challenging the societal arrangements of paid and unpaid labor within the household. The outsourcing of domestic chores and care work to a third party in exchange for money is thereby increasingly seen as a solution to the resulting work-life conflicts and competing time pressures. However, as yet there only a small number of studies which systematically investigate the household demand for domestic services, both nationally and internationally. Within these few existing studies quantitatively oriented economic approaches prevail, which, however, yield inconsistent findings and appear limited from a sociological viewpoint; whereas sociologically informed qualitative studies provide valuable but hardly generalizable insights. Against this background this study aims to provide a systematic theoretical and quantitative-empirical analysis of the trends and determinants of outsourcing domestic labor in Germany and in international comparison – from a very sociological perspective. The central hypothesis states that in addition to factors emphasized by economic theory, such as time and budget constraints, further crucial determinants must be taken into account in order to understand the outsourcing behavior of households. First, these factors comprise cultural framings of privacy, family life and gender identity which are inherently linked to care and household tasks. Second, as emphasized by economic sociology, problems of trust and quality that underlie economic exchange relationships present important determinants as to whether outsourced domestic services are accepted as a substitute for own care work. Third, institutional determinants and features of the welfare state will shape opportunities and constraints for the outsourcing and labor division decisions of households. The empirical study uses advanced regression methods based on secondary national and international data, which contain information on consumption of paid domestic services, child care, elderly care, food-away-from-home and repair services. In addition, a primary survey within the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam) was conducted and is used for testing the specific hypotheses derived from cultural and economic sociology. This research project not only provides comprehensive insights into the determinants of outsourcing domestic labor and the potential for new societal care arrangements, but also sheds light on the relevance of cultural framings for economic processes and for social inequality arising from the differential use of such services.

社会福利生产的一个重要部分涉及主要由妇女提供的家庭无偿私人护理工作。然而，妇女劳动力依附的显著增加、人口结构的变化以及社会保障制度的持续削减正在挑战家庭内有偿和无偿劳动的社会安排。因此，将家务和护理工作外包给第三方以换取金钱，越来越被视为解决由此产生的工作与生活冲突和竞争时间压力的一种方法。然而，目前只有少数研究系统地调查了国内和国际家庭对家政服务的需求。在这些为数不多的现有研究中，以数量为导向的经济方法占主导地位，然而，这些方法产生的结果不一致，从社会学的观点来看似乎有限；而社会学上的定性研究提供了有价值但难以概括的见解。在此背景下，本研究旨在从社会学的角度，对德国国内劳务外包的趋势和决定因素进行系统的理论和定量实证分析，并进行国际比较。中心假设指出，除了经济理论强调的因素，如时间和预算限制外，为了理解家庭的外包行为，还必须考虑其他关键决定因素。首先，这些因素包括隐私、家庭生活和性别认同的文化框架，它们与护理和家务任务有着内在的联系。第二，正如经济社会学所强调的，作为经济交换关系基础的信任和质量问题是外包家政服务是否被接受作为自己护理工作的替代品的重要决定因素。第三，福利国家的制度决定因素和特征将决定家庭外包和劳动分工决策的机会和约束。实证研究采用先进的回归方法，基于二手的国内和国际数据，这些数据包含有偿家政服务、儿童保育、老年人护理、外出就餐和维修服务的消费信息。此外，在亲密关系和家庭动态的小组分析（pairfam）内进行了初步调查，用于测试来自文化和经济社会学的具体假设。这个研究项目不仅提供了对外包家务劳动的决定因素和新的社会照顾安排的潜力的全面见解，而且还揭示了文化框架与经济进程的相关性，以及由于这种服务的不同使用而产生的社会不平等。