Introduction

Abstract

The aims of this book are twofold: first, to further our understanding of processes of convergence and divergence in selected European societies and of explanations for these; and secondly, to provide an understanding of processes of social change, especially in the spheres of work, employment and welfare. In this respect the focus of the book is on the changing relationship between work and welfare, which has become one of the central academic and policy debates at the end of the twentieth century. One of the principal reasons for interest in this changing relationship is that the restructuring of the welfare state is directly related to transformations in the economy, increased international competition, and, notably, the erosion of the standard employment relationship on which social policies were premised in earlier decades of the post-war period. The current characteristics of European economies with low economic growth and high structural unemployment increasingly means the exclusion and marginalization of many groups from participation in the labour market and therefore from social protection based on continuous employment. High unemployment also exacerbates the costs to the welfare state, although, as we discuss in the following chapters, the European welfare states have responded in different ways to unemployment.