The Group Work, Family and Social Policies (TFPS) is organised according to two specific research challenges. One focuses on the problem of work, employment, professions and organisations, and the other focuses on family, ageing and gender. These two challenges share common research themes: formation of national policies on families and on the articulation of family life and employment; interrelationships and the impacts of family policies and labor policies on other social concerns such as child rearing, population dynamics, old age support, gender equality and intergenerational dynamics; transition mechanisms of generations to and out of the labor market; social exclusion, vulnerable social groups and policy design for inclusiveness; the role of the third sector in policy design and implementation.
In terms of the study of the family, ageing and gender, the activity of the TFPS Group will be structured around four strategic objectives.
The first objective concerns Family Changes and Resilience, focusing on the changes in models of family formation and their impacts in the configuration of the domestic space and in the field of child rearing. In addition, it includes conflict inside the family with some emphasis in domestic violence (against women, men, children, elderly and parents).
The second objective addresses Ageing well at home and in community environments. The research on this topic focuses on living arrangements in old age and moreover in situation of frailty and dependence. This involves the development of several projects, namely: elderly abuse – profiles of risk and determining factors inside the family and in institutional settings; ageing in urban territories.
The third aim addresses the promotion of participation and inclusion in its widest sense: conciliation of family life with the participation in the labor market; transition from the labor market to retirement; life-learning and active ageing; ageism and the participation of older workers in the labor market; migration and its impacts for intergenerational arrangements; care arrangements and income protection in old age; the study of social determinants of health and illness in old age; and life-learning programs and social inclusion – the over 23 program.
The fourth objective concerns the study of Quality and sustainability of social protection systems. The trade-offs, and alternative pathways, that exist between the urgent need to reform current social protection systems and their long-term sustainability. This aim involves the development of a project on Long-term care systems: forecasting demands and resources.
Researchers draw on multi-disciplinary perspectives in order to reflect the fact that family dynamics and the ageing process are holistic.
The activity of the TFPS Group in the field of work, employment, professions and organisations focuses on the sociological analysis of work and organizational dynamics. As part of a strategy designed to promote the strengthening of scientific cooperation with other research centres and with non-academic institutions, the activity programme will include research according to five strategic objectives.
The first one will privilege the ongoing transformation processes of reshaping work and organisations, in particular in Northern Portugal, focusing on the organisation of work, on the many forms of employment, on knowledge and skills, on labour conditions, unemployment, symbolic relationships with work and new forms of company organisation.
The second one will focus on the relationships between work and social inclusion, in particular on social policies for the youth and adults with low schooling and erratic professional pathways.
The third one is a bridge-builder with the previous goal, and focuses on entrepreneurship and social innovation. The aim is to consolidate the pioneering Portuguese research on this issue, giving attention to social entrepreneurship, covering aspects of job and wealth creation, provision of social services, and the fight against poverty of vulnerable populations, including those with high levels of education. The feasibility study of an incubator of that type in the Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto is one of the expected results.
The fourth objective is to study professions and their identities in order to determine how they are shaped by the changes in the world of work. This includes the changes occurring in the professional structures, the professional profiles of managers, of scientific researchers and of players. The fifth objective focuses on the relationships between education, labour market and graduates. It includes an approach to the professional pathways of graduates in the labour market.