3rd Amerang Dispute: Family and Love

The family – A Prerequisite for Prosperity and Growth

For the majority of people, the family represents the most important sphere in their life. Thus, the family as such has not outlived itself. But the general framework that this institution is subjected to has become outdated. Professor Hans Bertram, a sociologist at Berlin’s Humboldt University, explores the modalities of how the family changes in a “world without growth”. At the behest of the Ernst Freiberger Foundation
and its academic branch, the Amerang Dispute, Professor Bertram draws an international comparison on the development of the family. In times of economic crisis, the family is of central significance, according to the foundation’s founder Ernst Freiberger: “In times of trouble, people close ranks in order to support and help each other”. During her opening speech titled “Family and Love” with which Ursula von der Leyen, then incumbent Federal Minister of Family Affairs, opened the 3rd Amerang Dispute, von der Leyen said: “It is an error to think that in rough economic times family politics might be a negligible affair. The reverse is true. The family is the prerequisite for prosperity and growth”.
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