Family Dynamics, Gender and Social Inequality During COVID-19 (eBook)

This book critically analyzes both the negative and positive impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic, focusing on changes in families, gender developments, and the evolution of social inequality structures.

The Corona pandemic, with its unprecedented restrictions on contact, has meant that families have been challenged in their functioning in a very special way. International studies show that socioeconomic factors such as education, income, but also the geographic center of life of families and women in particular, had an important influence on the management of the pandemic. Despite all negative side effects of the Corona pandemic, there were nevertheless also innovative impulses, especially in the field of social work, particularly work with families.

The book's 18 chapters, organized in six sections, highlight not only short-term changes but also longer-term developments that either require a corresponding concept of measures or action or can be evaluated as drivers of innovation in the pandemic. 

• Part I: Introduction
• Part II: Family Dynamics
  
• Part III: Child Well-being
• Part IV: Social Work with Children and Families
• Part V: Gender and COVID-19
  
• Part VI: Conclusion

The special feature of the volume is its global perspective. Authors from different countries describe changes and developments on these topics and make clear what profound effects the pandemic had on families, social inequality structures, and gender-specific situations. The anthology does not comprehensively reflect international perspectives. Rather, it leaves it up to readers to compare the developments in the respective countries with their own country of origin from a comparative cultural perspective. In this way, ideas for future, overarching research projects may be stimulated.

Family Dynamics, Gender and Social Inequality During COVID-19 is timely and relevant reading for scientists, students, and practitioners in sociology, social work, and political science.

Nina Weimann-Sandig is a professor of Sociology and Social Research. She is currently working at the University of Applied Sciences for Social Work, Education, and Nursing in Dresden, Germany. Before she has been a senior researcher at the German Youth Institute in Munich and at the Institute of Labour and Employment Research in Nuremberg. Herr research fields are family sociology, social inequality, and sociology of professions. She is an advisor to the Saxonian Ministry of Family and Social Affairs and works as a consultant for the World Bank.

Ronald Lutz, Dr. phil., Sociologist and Anthropologist, is Lecturer at University of Applied Sciences of Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Germany; Lecturer at University of Applied Sciences of Erfurt, Germany; and Research Associate at the School of Social Work, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. From 1993 to March 2019, he was Professor at the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences at the Erfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany. His fields of interest include poverty, social politics, social development, and international relations.