Reconciliation Policy in Germany 1998–2008 : Construing the ’Problem’ of the Incompatibility of Paid Employment and Care Work

'In all research, the choice of object is primary and decisive. This refers to the set of c- cepts which determines the delimitation among the totality of phenomena of those selected as objects of analysis'(Topalov 1979: 446). In this quote Topalov addresses the 'fundamental illusion' of empiricist research approaches: that objects of inquiry are self-evident givens. The rejection of this - piricist 'illusion'constitutes the foundation of this thesis. This thesis modifies a c- textual social constructionist paradigm of inquiry and combines it with a feminist standpoint in the analysis of policies claimed to be aimed at reconciling paid - ployment and care work in Germany from 1998 to 2005. 1.1 Genesis of the study The present study developed out of three interrelated strands of our intellectual - riosity which evolved, triggered by an engagement with a discipline unique to the UK in its approach, Social Policy. First, in what can be described as a fruitful int- lectual adaptation process to a new discipline, an initial interest in welfare state transformation in Eastern Europe developed into a keen interest in family policies.