Social Change in Western Europe

by Crouch, Colin

• ISBN13: 9780198780687
• ISBN10: 0198780680
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-20
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

What do European societies look like, at the end of a turbulent millennium which saw western Europe slowly rise to global domination, and then rapidly decline to its present position, prosperous but clearly behind the USA in world influence? This is the only book by a single sociologist to make a systematic and up to date comparison of virtually all west European countries across a wide range of social institutions. These include: work and occupations, the structure of the economy, the family, education, religion, nationality andethnicity, and the mechanism of citizenship in the welfare state. Particular emphasis is placed on the place of gender and social class. By including basic details on Japan and the United States throughout, the author is able to draw attention to any shared west European specificities. The book also develops a theory of change in contemporary societies. Starting from a model of a mid-century social compromise based on certain balances between industrialism, capitalism, traditional community institutions, and community it traces its subsequent destabilization and placesparticular importance on the resurgence of capitalism in shaping a new social order. This important new study of the social structure of western Europe will be essential reading for all students of comparative sociology and European sociology.

Author Biography

Colin Crouch is Professor of Sociology at the European University Institute, Florence. He is the author or editor of numerous publications including Reinventing Collective Action (edited with David Marquand), Political Economy of Modern Capitalism: Mapping Convergence and Diversity (edited with W. Streeck), and Industrial Relations and European State Traditions, which won the Political Studies Association W.J.M. MacKenzie Prize for 1993.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xvi
List of Figures	xvii
List of Tables	xix
List of Appendix Tables	xxi
Abbreviations	xxii
Introductions	1	(1)
Prologue: The End of the European Millennium	1	(31)
The Making of Contemporary Europe	32	(17)
PART I THE FATE OF INDUSTRIALISM: INDUSTRIALIZING, INDUSTRIAL, OR POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES?	49	(72)
Work, Households, and Occupations	53	(15)
The Organization of Working Life: Between Stability and Flexibility	68	(28)
The Sectors of Employment	96	(25)
PART II CHANGES AND DIVERSITY IN THE CHARACTER OF CAPITALISM	121	(74)
Capitalism and Inequality in Work	125	(42)
The Institutions of Modern Capitalism	167	(28)
PART III SOCIOLOGICAL LIBERALISM AND THE INSTITUTIONS OF TRADITIONAL COMMUNITY	195	(114)
The Family	199	(32)
Families, Education, and Social Mobility	231	(24)
The Paradox of Religion	255	(28)
Nations, Cultures, and Ethnicities	283	(26)
PART IV CITIZENSHIP	309	(82)
Democracy and Mass Participation	313	(31)
The Organization of Social Interests	344	(22)
Mass Citizenship and Welfare States	366	(25)
CONCLUSIONS	391	(36)
Is There a Western European Form of Society?	393	(17)
What Type of Society Are We Now Inhabiting?	410	(17)
Statistical Appendix	427	(62)
References	489	(32)
Index	521