102
and the nuclear family in the three societies under comparison, as well as
the overall emphasis on bilateral filiation and biological ties in Western
society, in particular in family law and in welfare provision (Castles and
Mitchell 1993 ; Esping-Andersen 1999 ; Ferrera 1996 ; Hantrais and
Letablier 1996 ; Leitner 2003 ), we can also expect this model of kinship
to continue to strongly influence the meanings of family bonds. Lastly,
we may also expect that different socio-economic and historical pathways
regarding welfare, family, gender, and living conditions will contribute to
significant differences between the countries. As described in Chap. 2 ,
these countries have undergone specific social, welfare, and historical
pathways which influence family obligations, norms, and practices.
Pluralization and individualization, as well as a decline in the male bread-
winner model, are major common trends, but there are also striking dif-
ferences in the family and gender cultural models which have emerged in
the three national contexts (see Chaps. 2 and 3 ). In terms of path depen-
dency, both Portugal and Lithuania were, in the recent past and in the
context of two different types of authoritarian regimes, strongly influ-
enced by an orientation towards a pro-traditional family model focusing
on intergenerational support and familialism (Bernotas and Guogis
2009 ; Šaulauskas 2000 ; Stankūnienė 1995 ; Wall 2011 ). Developments
in policies and practices during the first decade of the twenty-first cen-
tury, however, have made for some divergence, with family change in
Portugal more centred on pluralization, gender equality, and state sup-
port for families (Guerreiro et al. 2009 ) while family change in Lithuania
was strongly constrained not only by unstable living conditions and radi-
cal cuts in welfare provision for families but also a renewed focus on the
importance of marriage and traditional gender roles (Kanopiene 1995 ,
1999 ; Stankuniene and Maslauskaite 2008 ; Stankūnienė and Maslauskaitė
2009 ; Mitrikas 2000 , 2007 ). Switzerland, on the other hand, may be
seen to have followed a completely different pathway, less oriented
towards intergenerational family obligations both in the past and in the
present, more oriented towards individual autonomy and also shaped by
a liberal welfare regime promoting strong obligations within marriage
and a one-and-a-half earner model stressing gender inequalities in the
family division of labour (Bertozzi et al. 2008 ; Kellerhals et al. 2004 ;
Lévy and Widmer 2013 ).
K. Wall et al.