Family Matters: How Family Concerns Relate to Policy Preferences and Political Choices 

This talk by Jane Green, Professor of Political Science and British Politics at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, took place at Boston University's Center for the Study of Europe on Thursday, March 21, 2024. It was moderated by Gina Sapiro, Professor Emerita of Political Science and Dean Emerita of Arts & Sciences at Boston University.
Green shares results of her research on policy preferences conducted with Zack Grant and Geoffrey Evans in the Nuffield Politics Research Centre. Green and her colleagues argue that one over-looked but important mechanism is people’s family ties, comprising a key ‘in-group’ through which emotional bonds and linked fates mean the financial well-being of close family members, and the risks of supporting them, form an important driver of policy preferences and political choices.
The talk illustrates relationships between the perceived financial well-being of young adults and support for more pro-young policies, as well as the expected prioritisation of spending on different age groups and away from spending on one’s own age-group, and associations with support for different political parties. She concludes that family concerns offer a potential bridge towards greater consensus in an era of inter-generational policy divides and challenges.