Past Research Collaborative Seminar
Family Dynamics in a Changing Europe
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Stockholm University, & University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
The CGES Research Collaborative on Family Dynamics in a Changing Europe welcomes scholars from the humanities and specialists in qualitative methods as well as those who are familiar with indicators of demographic change. Readings and seminar discussion will be oriented toward theory and empirical results rather than methodology. Lectures will cover historical, anthropological and policy perspectives as well as sociological and demographic research. An introduction to demography will be provided to interested students (small book, short lecture) but is not required to understand and participate actively in lectures and discussions.
This graduate-level course provides an overview of recent theory and research on changes and dynamics in family demographic behavior in Europe . With its variation in cultural, political, economic, and institutional settings, Europe is the ideal place to test various hypotheses on the causes and consequences of family demographic change in economically developed societies. The recent transformation of Central and Eastern Europe , and the increasing importance of international migration have added to the variety of demographic dynamics of the continent. The seminar will cover changes in living arrangements and union dynamics; changes in childbearing dynamics; causes and consequences of family-demographic change; relationships between social and economic policy and family-demographic change; and transnational vital events, family dynamics in the course of international migration. Particular attention will be devoted to comparative research within Europe and to theoretically informative comparisons with low-fertility settings in North America , Oceania and East Asia .
The course is a joint venture between Stockholm University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA). Class meetings will be held via video conference so that all faculty and students can participate simultaneously. The course is supported by UW-Madison’s Center for German and European Studies and by the Demography Unit at Stockholm University . I t is designed to further a collaborative research agenda among faculty and doctoral students at both institutions. Professor Elizabeth Thomson leads the UW-Madison group. At Stockholm University , Dr. Gunnar Andersson (Docent), a leading expert on family demographic change in the Nordic countries, is the course organizer . Guest lecturers will include Professor Ron Lesthaeghe , Professor Emeritus of Demography and Social Science Methodology at the Free University of Brussels and Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan and the University of California-Irvine; Professor Caroline Bledsoe, Northwestern University; Dr. Gerda Neyer, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research; and Dr. Mikaela Kreyenfeld, University of Rostock and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.
Ron Lesthaeghe "Second Demographic Transition: Theory and New Applications" 3 October 2007
Gunnar Andersson "Family Dynamics in Europe" 10 October 2007
Caroline Bledsoe "Demographic Transitions Across Borders and Culture" 17 October 2007
Brienna Perelli-Harris "Fertility and Family Change in Countries in Transition" 24 October 2007
Gerda Neyer "Family Dynamics, Family Policies, and the Welfare State" 31 October 2007
Gunnar Andersson "Policy Effects on Family Dynamics" 7 November 2007
Michaela Kreyenfeld "German Reunification and Family Dynamics" 14 November 2007
Elizabeth Thomson "Education and the Family Life Course in Europe" 21 November 2007
