“Pursuing happiness is not only idealistic, it is the world’s best and perhaps only hope to avoid global catastrophe” (Global Happiness Policy Report 2018). With that, the report argues for happiness as overarching policy goal. This volume argues that parental well-being is well qualified to assume a central role for governments of industrially advanced nations that are in need of coping with the challenges of low fertility and societal aging.
More than 4000 mothers and fathers of young children in Germany and Japan have been surveyed in regard to their well-being and satisfaction with many aspects related to their work and family lives. The volume brings together 13 scholars to analyze this unique dataset.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction
Parents in transitional Germany and Japan (Hans Bertram and Barbara Holthus) · Reflexive modernity in practice: The methodology of comparing German and Japanese parents (Matthias Huber)

A macro view on parents
Care, human capital, and demographic transformation (Hans Bertram)

Parenting and childcare
Class and conformity revisited: Parental values and self-conception in contemporary Germany and Japan (Carolin Deuflhard) · Childrearing attitudes and values of German and Japanese parents (Junko Takaoka and Yi Sun) · Reflecting on the dimensions of fathering in Germany and Japan (Sophie Olbrich)

Self, social relatedness, and social structures
Social resources and parental well-being: A comparison of Japanese and German parental ego-centric networks (Marina Hennig) · Partnership satisfaction in Germany and Japan: The role of family work distribution and gender ideology (Peter Fankhauser, Barbara Holthus, Stefan Hundsdorfer) · Parental health, personality, and life satisfaction (Masumi Sugawara and Satoko Matsumoto) · Profession, employment, and parental well-being in Japan and Germany (Nobuko Nagase)

Family policy well-being
Money, time, and infrastructure as elements of a new German family policy (Hans Bertram) · Parental satisfaction with family policies in Japan: An overview (Barbara Holthus)

Conclusion
Satisfaction and a plural modernity: German and Japanese parents (Hans Bertram)