This title was first published in 2001. This detailed study of European trade unions also addresses academic concerns about the continuing relevance of the class concept as an analytical tool. As a social movement, the trade union has always used the class principal to unite and defend workers, and the diverse contributions to this volume enable the more accurate positioning of class discourse within both the debate about trade unions and wider sociological inquiry.

This title was first published in 2001. This detailed study of European trade unions also addresses academic concerns about the continuing relevance of the class concept as an analytical tool. As a social movement, the trade union has always used the class principal to unite and defend workers, and the diverse contributions to this volume enable the more accurate positioning of class discourse within both the debate about trade unions and wider sociological inquiry.

KADOC Studies on Religion, Culture and Society, Volume 6Research continues to show that the Christian religion is gradually disappearing from the public, cultural, and social spheres in Western Europe. Even on the individual level, institutionalized religion is becoming increasingly marginalized. New forms of religious life and community, however, may point toward a resurgence of Christian churches in postmodern Europe. This book focuses on the complex transformations Christian churches in Western Europe have undergone since World War II. In English and French.

Since the 1970s the feminization thesis has become a powerful trope in the rewriting of the social history of Christendom. However, this 'thesis' has triggered some vehement debates, given that men have continued to dominate the churches, and the churches themselves have reacted to the association of religion and femininity, often formulated by their critics, by explicitly focusing their appeal to men.

In this book the authors critically reflect upon the use of concepts like feminization and masculinization in relation to Christianity. By presenting case studies that adopt different gendered approaches with regard to Christian, mainly Catholic discourses and practices, the authors capture multiple feminizations' and masculinizations' in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. In particular, it becomes clear that the idea that Christianity took on characteristically feminine' values and practices cannot withstand the conclusion that what is considered manly' or feminine' depends on time, place, and context, and on the reasons why gendered metaphors are used."

Drawing on research funded by the European Commission, this book explores how religious diversity has been, and continues to be, represented in cultural contexts in Western Europe, particularly to teenagers: in textbooks, museums and exhibitions, popular youth culture including TV and online, as well as in political speech. Topics include the findings from focus group interviews with teenagers in schools across Europe, the representation of minority religions in museums, migration and youth subculture.

European unity is a dream that has appealed to the imagination since the Middle Ages. Its motives have varied from a longing for peace to a deep-rooted abhorrence of diversity, as well as a yearning to maintain Europe's colonial dominance. This book offers a multifaceted history that takes in account the European imagination in a global context.

European unity is a dream that has appealed to the imagination since the Middle Ages. Its motives have varied from a longing for peace to a deep-rooted abhorrence of diversity, as well as a yearning to maintain Europe's colonial dominance. This book offers a multifaceted history that takes in account the European imagination in a global context.

Internationalism is generally considered to be a major feature of the labour movement, and to hold a far more powerful appeal for workers' organizations than national identity. However, this revisionist book argues that, in fact, it is the national dimension which is of utmost importance to workers' organizations, and that national questions have often compelled workers to engage in struggles on different levels. Through detailed case studies of trade union involvement in Northern Ireland, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria and Europe generally, contributors tackle subjects long neglected by labour historians and overturn the accepted wisdom that nationalism and the labour movement are irreconcilably opposed. This analysis of how international agendas are influenced by nationalist politics is unique, and the case-studies offer a dynamic description of the different ways in which nationalist values meet with trade union ideas and practices.The high standard of scholarship and the combination of historical and contemporary material make this book essential reading for students and researchers of labour history, politics, political theory and area studies.

Drawing on research funded by the European Commission, this book explores how religious diversity has been, and continues to be, represented in cultural contexts in Western Europe, particularly to teenagers: in textbooks, museums and exhibitions, popular youth culture including TV and online, as well as in political speech. Topics include the findings from focus group interviews with teenagers in schools across Europe, the representation of minority religions in museums, migration and youth subculture.