Implizite Theorien in der Familienpolitik: Der Kinderbetreuungsausbau im kommunalen Fallvergleich

In recent years, family policy in Germany has undergone a major change as a result of the so-called Child Benefit Act (the Kinderförderungsgesetz, or KiföG). This federal law envisages a nationwide expansion of childcare for those under the age of three. However, the law’s concrete implementation has largely been left to individual municipal administrations, each of which approaches the challenge differently. The central thesis of this doctoral dissertation is that local actors, in their implementation of the childcare law, not only execute but also interpret it differently. Consequently, the ideas, expectations and convictions of local actors assume a central importance in explaining the diversity of childcare across Germany. Ultimately, local variabilities in childcare quotas owe primarily to different ideas about and visions for childcare provision. The study shows how the implicit theories of local actors assume an interpretive power over local childcare policies, which gives rise to the formation of a consensus among these actors. In the four municipalities studied, independent childcare policy profiles develop in accordance with the predominant implicit theories of local actors. In this study, these ideas are categorised using Leitner’s extension of Esping-Andersen's familial typology. The study demonstrates that local translations of uniform, supra-local policy prescriptions produce a multitude of different, (de)familial approaches. Two municipalities in the former East Germany and two in the former West Germany were examined. The sampling criteria were; a maximum contrast in the childcare quota and a minimal contrast in the parameters set by the governing party; per capita income; administrative unity and population density. Interviews with selected actors on the implementation of the KiföG were held and then analysed in these four CDU-governed municipalities in western and eastern Germany. The theoretical framework of the project was developed according to an actor-centred approach to policy analysis, whereby the existing research field is structured around Sabatier’s Advocacy-Coalition-Framework. The analysis draws on Hofmann (1993) to inquire comparatively into the effect of implicit theories on childcare policy in particular communes. Politics itself is defined here as an interpretation of social reality. There were significant differences between the different municipalities in terms of the predominant interpretations and ideas regarding the care of infants. In the east German districts A and B, infant care was taken largely for granted. But though both districts exhibited a largely de-familial approach to childcare provision, they differed in their expectations around the state’s role in this process. The attempt to deal with the – to some extent traumatic – reunification of the two German states proved to be of critical importance here. District A proactively managed these years of change, with local actors emphasising personal freedom and responsibility in the design of childcare, as well as pedagogic diversity, which enabled for a highly colourful local landscape. But in contrast to this relatively liberal policy, district B took a more centralising approach, exhibiting a broadly reactive (rather than proactive) response to the process of reunification. Childcare here was organised largely by the state, with the district authorities serving as the central drivers of daily childcare facilities. In the western German city C, the provision of care for infants was understood as a social policy. This socio-political conceptualisation aimed at providing aid for dysfunctional families, an approach underpinned by an explicit familial conception of a “normal childhood” within the protective, private confines of the family. Conversely, in the city of D, a more de-familial profile was in evidence. Childcare was understood here in primarily economic terms, with a clear emphasis on the early activation of well-qualified mothers, combined with high fees for childcare facilities (in comparison to the national average). Such policies represented an obvious hurdle to the use of childcare for the under threes among low-income parents. Ultimately, and despite uniform federal regulations under the new childcare law, local conditions alone were insufficient to explain the high degree of diversity across the municipalities examined here. Overall, the study confirms that the implicit theories of local actors underpin and give rise to relatively independent childcare policies, and that this dimension has a significant impact on the regulation of childcare. Finally, this study evaluates the implicit theories outlined and defined here, and the local familial policies they resulted in, according to the theory of double socialization (Regina Becker-Schmidt 1987).