The idealization of the ‘new father’ and ‘reversed roles father’ in Germany

Abstract

Over time, social expectations of fathers in Germany have changed, from biological siring to protection, to providing, and lately to nurturing of children (including childcare, emotional support, and education). We empirically model the contemporary German ideal of fathering using a sample of 691 German citizens from ages 18 to 92, selected from resident registration lists in 2006 in four economically typological regions: Northwest, urban city-state, East, and South. Two-thirds of respondents idealize fathering as both nurturing and breadwinning, and one-third idealize fathering only with nurturing. We analyze which social groups prioritize which dimensions based on gender, region, birth cohort, education level, partnership and parenthood status, and religion. Results suggest strong institutional and structural – especially East–West – effects on the social construction of fatherhood in Germany and a mismatch between the idealized father and chances men have to achieve it.

Keywords:

• fatherhood
• Germany
• cultural ideals
• norms
• support
• nurture

Notes

1. Androcentrism (Greek ανδρο, andro-, ‘man, male;’ χεντρον, kentron, ‘center’) means that male life courses and male realities are taken to be the standard ‘human’ condition (Bem, 1993; de Beauvoir, 1980; Gilman, 1997).

2. Before we excluded these 23 individuals from further analysis, we examined their profile for patterns. Two of them refused to give information on their socio-demographic background. The 21 others were individuals with a high status inconsistency in terms of their education and income and occupational prestige. Nearly two-thirds (13 of 21) had at least 12 years of education or more, but 15 of 21 were not integrated into the labor market (retired persons, housewives, students, and so on). Income and occupational prestige did not differ from the average in the sample. One-third of them were not registered in a church, one-third were single with no children; 4 of 21 were single parents. A quarter were born before World War II.