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Round table 1

Construction of statistical data in the social sciences: issues and challenges of comparison, spatialisation and contextualisation

As the title states, this round table brings together contributions that are intended to highlight the difficulties and challenges that are raised by the construction and use of quantitative data in social sciences. Whether it's data from ad hoc surveys or statistics collected in censuses, ..., when you have the ambition of creating international comparisons, there is an even greater need for an awareness of the issues and problems of data analysis.

The countries that make up the Euro-Mediterranean area have differing experiences and traditions of surveys, statistical nomenclatures and classifications. This has not prevented, during recent years, specific surveys targeting international comparisons from being carried out, as well as project development and development of harmonisation, integration and statistical cooperation protocols. All these devices are designed to improve the objectification and understanding of social change on a large scale. However, they have limitations and are sometimes difficult to implement. This round table aims to highlight the issues and challenges of international comparison. It will also serve to question the value of consideration of the spatial dimension in valuation of statistical data.

Round table 2

The social and demographic process of ageing: similarities and contrasts

As reflected in the title, this round table discussion brings together contributions that explore the socio-demographic factors of ageing and/or their societal implications. The approach will be based on international comparison and involve consideration of national case studies with their specific individual characteristics and also their similarities. Ageing is often described as an inevitable process related to the "universal" demographic transition experienced by every society in the world. But beyond similarities in the phenomena of birth and death, an examination of the situation regarding ageing from the start of the 21st century throws light on an increasingly complex phenomenon that varies across different nations. The intense and universal ageing process may not be mechanical but rather expected, given that the factors involved are particularly sensitive to economic and historical circumstances and policy regulations, and also to the changing lifestyles of men and women, the effects of which on fertility may be out of kilter with "the theory" of demographic transition.

As a social process, the ageing of a population has a particular effect on the age structure of men and women due to increased life expectancy, and more profoundly the balance and the dynamics of exchange between existing generations. In the culturally diverse societies of southern Europe and the Mediterranean rim, which are in close geographical proximity to each other but whose political systems are historically quite distinct, one of the fundamental issues of ageing is the relationship between the effects of public policies and the way individuals behave in their private lives. In return, the ageing of our societies derives its meaning from the way that the paths of men's and women's lives have unfolded both in the public domain, particularly at work, and in the private domain, involving family life in the main. In other words, the significant changes to life paths and work and family status noted in recent years as a consequence of job insecurity and growing family instability, constitute a new socio-economic and socio-demographic order for the process of ageing. What is generally referred to as “crisis” – a widely-used term in reference to macroeconomic imbalances, the globalisation of trade and power struggles between employment systems – manifests as a loss of control over the path one’s life takes, which has consequences for ageing that we are so far largely ignorant of. This means that, in trying to understand the changes in the course of human existence, it is difficult to unravel the more or less direct effects of economic contexts on ageing, socio-cultural trends specific to societies and their precise characteristics.

The increasing numbers of elderly people in the population, as well as factors embodying human progress (lower mortality rates, underlying improvement in living conditions and lifestyles, etc.) have become an important element over the years in the way contemporary societies are organised, as regards, for example, retirement and health. All societies are affected to different degrees and according to events in their past. This demographic situation, however, has varying significance depending on the particular society and the way in which its institutions, especially social welfare, "construct the social definition of age and set, for example, working and retirement ages" (Guillemard, 2010).

Round table 3

Family relations between generations in the heart of life cycle transformations

As implicit in the title, this round table brings together contributions that focus on the extent to which changes at life-cycle level and socio-economic changes at society level put inter-generational family support to the test. The "problem" of family support has most often been addressed in quantitative terms, which sometimes mask a prescriptive judgement: are inter-generational family relationships growing weaker or are they reinforced in times of "crisis"?  Do they compensate for the limitations of the welfare state? These issues have met with a wide range of responses by various analysts; proof that no causal explanation takes precedence. Nevertheless, the concept of family support can be divided into different areas which the contributors will explore with the benefit of their own research experience. The aim of this round table is to shed light on the dynamics of inter-generational relationships often transformed by the ageing process. Changes to life cycles also modify the structure of families, the place and status that each generation occupies and the function they perform, within an unprecedented situation for many societies, both northern and southern, where increased life expectancy favours the co-existence of different generations. Most of the latest surveys have assessed the extent of these family ties between generations. The strength of these ties, which was previously underestimated or even unknown, gives an idea of their particular features and limitations compared to the plethora of social policy interventions or institutional support systems, where these exist, and allows us to modify fairly radically the prevailing ideology of personalising family ties. In this round table, studies in the Mediterranean context will take priority. This study includes a comparative perspective between countries in northern and southern Europe. In view of the increase in life expectancy, many countries in the Mediterranean and elsewhere are becoming "multi-generational societies". This raises the issue of the role or usefulness of each player, especially in crisis situations. In the culturally diverse societies of southern Europe and the Mediterranean rim, which are in close geographical proximity to each other but whose political systems are historically quite distinct, one of the fundamental issues of ageing is the relationship between the effects of public welfare established by nation states in recent years and the capacity for mutual support that kinship systems have been able to generate.

Round table 4

The sexual division of labour and its political institutionalisation

Concerning the topic stated in the title, this round table brings together contributions that similarly question the evolution of the role of women, with regard to new forms of male domination, and tries to answer the questions raised throughout life by the interactions between changes in employment and family. The significance of these changes is certainly to be found in the constant clash between social gender relations in the labour market and in domestic life, but also in the reconciliation of public policy guidelines in professional and private life. Even if the performance and trajectory of men and women have been relatively close in recent years, they have not, however, questioned the social division of gender roles. In this discussion, the Mediterranean study framework will be given priority. This study includes a comparative perspective between countries of northern and southern Europe.

Feminisation of employment has contributed to changes in scheduling events in private life, particularly births. The countries of southern Europe, for example, show low rates of reproduction, in some cases the rates are extremely low compared to other countries in the industrialised Western world. This situation partly reflects the difficulties faced by women in combining working life and family responsibilities. Women, especially mothers, have markedly increased their activity in the labour market, without men doing as much in the home. Large differences with regard to status and functions remain between men and women in both the private and professional spheres. And apart from reproduction, the arrival of a child generally has no consequence other than confirming this perpetual inequality. In recent decades, the gradual replacement of a family unit in which the man was the main breadwinner by a configuration in which both partners work, as well as the remarkable development of single-parent families, essentially caused by separation or divorce, questions the link between work and family life and shows that co-parenting is not very widespread in practice.

Beyond the parental sphere, the imbalance of participation in family tasks continues in the care provided to parents. Indeed, women continue to bear most of the responsibility of caring for dependent older people as they represent the vast majority of caregivers (spouses, daughters, daughters-in-law etc.), not hesitating, when working, to take time off or adjust their work schedule to make themselves available to take on this role. As such, with the ageing population, the range of activities for family solidarity (care, help, etc.) widens for women and further worsens the symmetry of social gender roles. This stresses the extent to which private life and professional life are centred around these "solidarity" activities (for children and the elderly) which make them possible. It implicitly questions the role of public policies of nation states, which divides people's opinion between an official egalitarian logic which reduces sexual inequality and a differentialist logic, or positive discrimination logic, which is more discreet and mindful of more or less preserving the social identities of the sexes.