Chapter 2: Social Inequality and Intergenerational Solidarity in European Welfare States

Intergenerational support across the entire life course is an important characteristic of parent–child relationships in contemporary societies, especially in times of societal crises and the withdrawal of the welfare state. Despite the consequences of social and demographic changes in recent decades, the relations and bonds between parents and their (adult) children remain impressively strong. Against the backdrop of increasing average life expectancy, children are able to spend more lifetime together with their parents and even their grandparents than ever before. This quantitative extension of shared lifetime together has resulted in a qualitative modification of the relationships between the generations in which families are connected by various forms of solidarity such as strong emotional closeness (affectual solidarity; see, e.g. Bertogg & Szydlik, 2016), contact and shared activities (associational solidarity; see, e.g. König, 2016) and especially transfers of money and time (functional solidarity; see, e.g. Brandt & Deindl, 2013; Deindl & Brandt, 2011; Igel & Szydlik, 2011; Isengard, König, & Szydlik, 2017; Isengard & Szydlik, 2012; König, 2016; Szydlik, 2008, 2016).