Bringing Territory Back in Social Comparative Research

Abstract

This book analyses the configuration of social vulnerability in the area of Western Europe that is conventionally known as the ‘Europe of the 15’ (EU-15). Most of the comparative studies on inequality and poverty have taken individual countries as the unit of analysis, on the basis of a number of often implicit assumptions. Comparative analysis between countries based on these assumptions has also developed supranational units (like ‘welfare regimes’) that include whole nation states regardless of their internal differences. This chapter is aimed at discussing this nation-state-centred approach and at presenting the concepts and methodology that are proposed and used in this book in order to overcome the main shortcomings of the traditional comparative approach.