Contemporary Grandparenthood In Germany: A Perspective Of Social Inequality

The study provides a multifaceted analysis of contemporary grandparenthood in Germany. Building upon ideas rooted in a sociology of the family and in a sociology of ageing, the study aims to demonstrate the usefulness of a perspective of social inequality for the study of the multigenerational family in later life. Social inequality is on the one hand conceptualised in the form of unequal access to the grandparent role (e.g. the transition to grandparenthood). On the other hand, social inequality is conceptualised in the form of unequal outcomes connected to grandparenthood (e.g. levels of subjective well-being).

Based on data from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) and applying a three-generation perspective, the study demonstrates that access to the grandparent role is in fact unequally distributed: higher educated parents are less likely to experience the transition to grandparenthood and become grandparents later in life than less educated parents. In contrast, the subjective importance of experienced as well as prospective grandparenthood does not vary by levels of education and other indicators of social class. Given the unequal access to the grandparent role, grandparenthood could evolve into a highly valued but unequally distributed social resource for later life. Furthermore, social inequality also exists as a result of grandparenthood: positive and negative outcomes of relationships with grandchildren for grandparental subjective well-being are unequally distributed across educational groups.

Based on these results, it can be concluded that social inequality in relation to grandparenthood exists in two forms: first, access to the generally highly valued social position of grandparent is unequal. And secondly, advantages and disadvantages are unequally connected to the grandparent role. The study shows that the perspective of social inequality is essential for an adequate description and analysis of grandparenthood in social and demographic change.