Household, family and welfare: past, present and future

These four publications vary significantly in their geographical coverage and general subject matter, but it is still possible to identify a number of common themes. They are particularly important for what they reveal about the links between formal welfare provision, protective legislation, family care, and the standard of living. They also yield many individual insights into such matters as family reconstitution, migration, child labour, working conditions, municipal welfare services, the decline of infant and maternal mortality, and the possible existence of a demographic threat to the viability of modern welfare states.

J. Robin, From childhood to middle age: cohort analysis in Colyton, 1851–1891. (Cambridge: Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, Working Paper Series, no. 1, n.d.). Pages iv+83. £2.50.

H. Cunningham and P. P. Viazzo (eds.), Child labour in historical perspective, 1800–1985: case studies from Europe, Japan and Colombia. (Florence: United Nations Children's Fund, International Child Development Centre, 1996.) Pages 105. US$9.00.

L. Marks, Metropolitan maternity: maternal and infant welfare services in early-twentieth century London. (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996.) Pages xxii+344.

A. Walker (ed.), The new generational contract: intergenerational relations, old age and welfare. (London: UCL Press, 1996). Pages xiii+241.