De zorg van mannen. Koesteren en kostwinnen in een overgangstijd

At the end of the 20th century, the concept of care provided by men was passing through an ambiguous transitional process: surface and undercurrents, not necessarily in favour of their caring, began to emerge in public debate. Changes in male caring patterns are under study in the last two decades of the previous century. The key themes include their motives to care (differently), and the costs and benefits. In an era of modernity, choosing - even with respect to care - implies having to motivate such choices. As a result social selection processes progress differently, imitation and identification have become more important. Rational value motivations for men to care can be broadly observed in the Netherlands, but behavioural patters, as charted more often, lag behind. Pressure exerted by the traditional, complementary division of labour and pressure from the traditional labour regime are the most important counter forces, where value rationality appears to be quickly discarded. By contrast, affective motivations in terms of caring for children, coupled with the wishes of a female partner and her economic potential appear to be the most important changing factors. The sustainability of change is reflected in his affective motivations and her aspirations, while the care provided by men takes shape and has developed in different ways and in different socio-economic milieus. The dominance of the Dutch one-and-a-half income household can be understood within the context of reconciling old demands with new desires: change is 'produced' here and incorporated in the continuity of the (main) breadwinner model. But men and women no longer only represent each other's complementary points of reference. As a result of mutual identification and imitation, new patterns are developing between the sexes, patterns in which men are adopting a different approach to care.