Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The different development of child and elderly care in the Netherlands reflects the hybrid character of its welfare system, which, until the 1980s, featured both social democratic and conservative elements. While public involvement in the provision of elderly care services rapidly increased after the Second World War, childcare remained a family affair well into the 1980s. Under recent neo‐liberal influences these trends have been reversed. Public investments in childcare have grown exponentially, while several governments have attempted to cut expenses on elderly care services. This article descriptively compares these contrasting processes and puts them into historical and comparative perspective. It is argued that pillarization has contributed to the comparatively strong hybridization of the Dutch system of welfare and social care. In addition, different cultures of child and elderly care contributed to different developments in both policy fields.</jats:p>