The empirical study of individuals' life-course is one of the most promising areas of research within sociology today. Increased availability of large-scale longitudinal data and improved statistical methods have made it possible to address theoretically relevant questions about events such as entrance into the labour market, job mobility, divorce and death.

This book consists of studies capturing the life-course from the cradle to the grave. The research questions include long-term consequences of childhood conditions; family formation and school-careers; work and parental leave; gender discrimination in job promotion; divorce and occupational career; persistence in poverty; and the intriguing question of why the highly educated tend to survive everyone else.

The studies shed light on the relation between family and work, on gender inequality, social class differences, welfare state redistribution, and labour market processes. They do this in a particular context, namely Sweden in the post-war period that is, during the decades that formed one of the most advanced welfare states in modern history. One chapter provides a descriptive account of institutional and life-course change in Sweden during that period.

Most authors use the Swedish level-of-living surveys, a unique data set providing ample opportunity to study social processes in a longitudinal perspective. The book will, therefore, be of relevance to those with interests in the Swedish welfare state as well as those with theoretical and reseacrh interests in the reproduction of inequality

This book is a comprehensive study into and about consultants doing consultancy, and having influence in ways that generate concerns about an emerging 'consultocracy', with privileged access to governments and public services. It presents a detailed mapping of consultants and consultancy in education as a site of change and modernisation in public sector service provision. It considers consultancy at a macro-level of globalised policy, at a meso-level of national government policy, and at a micro level with vivid descriptions and analyses of consultants at work. The rapid rise of 'edubusinesses', combined with the restructuring of public services in western style democracies, has generated new types of 'knowledge actors' within education policy. Three main developments that have led to this change are: the entry of education policy and service consultants from within major companies into the public education market place; the emergence of 'celebrity' entrepreneurial actors and private businesses who make interventions into Universities and schools; and the rapid growth of small businesses based on individuals who have relocated their work from the public to the private sector. Such knowledge actors and the complexities they bring to public education are as yet under described and largely un-theorized. Based on current research and drawing upon a range of theoretical tools, this book fills the gap. Gunter and Mills provide an invaluable contribution to scholarship on the neoliberal restructuring of public education by mapping and analyzing the under-examined yet central role of corporate education consultants. Their thoughtful and thorough discussion expands our understanding of how consultants promote and trade in the ideologies of corporate culture. Gunter and Mills show how consultants are integral to both knowledge making practices in schools and a radical reform agenda for schools in the UK and around the globe. This is an accessible and important volume for not just policy and politics scholars but anyone concerned about defending public forms of education and associated living at a moment when they are increasingly being positioned for pillage by profiteers. Kenneth J. Saltman, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, USA

This book is a comprehensive study into and about consultants doing consultancy, and having influence in ways that generate concerns about an emerging 'consultocracy', with privileged access to governments and public services. It presents a detailed mapping of consultants and consultancy in education as a site of change and modernisation in public sector service provision. It considers consultancy at a macro-level of globalised policy, at a meso-level of national government policy, and at a micro level with vivid descriptions and analyses of consultants at work. The rapid rise of 'edubusinesses', combined with the restructuring of public services in western style democracies, has generated new types of 'knowledge actors' within education policy. Three main developments that have led to this change are: the entry of education policy and service consultants from within major companies into the public education market place; the emergence of 'celebrity' entrepreneurial actors and private businesses who make interventions into Universities and schools; and the rapid growth of small businesses based on individuals who have relocated their work from the public to the private sector. Such knowledge actors and the complexities they bring to public education are as yet under described and largely un-theorized. Based on current research and drawing upon a range of theoretical tools, this book fills the gap. Gunter and Mills provide an invaluable contribution to scholarship on the neoliberal restructuring of public education by mapping and analyzing the under-examined yet central role of corporate education consultants. Their thoughtful and thorough discussion expands our understanding of how consultants promote and trade in the ideologies of corporate culture. Gunter and Mills show how consultants are integral to both knowledge making practices in schools and a radical reform agenda for schools in the UK and around the globe. This is an accessible and important volume for not just policy and politics scholars but anyone concerned about defending public forms of education and associated living at a moment when they are increasingly being positioned for pillage by profiteers. Kenneth J. Saltman, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, USA

This book presents new and authoritative evidence about change at the workplace, using it to cast light on recent debates about the future of work. The basic questions it poses are whether, and how, British workplaces are responding to the challenge of change, and what are the implications of change both for managers and employees. Using up-to-date information from 2000 workplaces, it provides a realistic basis for envisaging the changes through the first decade of the 21st century. It is accessible to a wide audience of policy makers, managers, professionals, students and academics.

This book presents new and authoritative evidence about change at the workplace, using it to cast light on recent debates about the future of work. The basic questions it poses are whether, and how, British workplaces are responding to the challenge of change, and what are the implications of change both for managers and employees. Using up-to-date information from 2000 workplaces, it provides a realistic basis for envisaging the changes through the first decade of the 21st century. It is accessible to a wide audience of policy makers, managers, professionals, students and academics.

In "Education Policy Research," Helen M. Gunter, David Hall and Colin Mills bring together contributions from a range of researchers, academics and practitioners. Each chapter draws on critical theoretical perspectives and showcases innovative research projects within educational settings to understand the current changes in schools, schooling and education, to explore critical questions. The varied accounts demonstrate the importance of partnerships between schools and higher education, and of putting educational research into context, specifically charting the ways in which schools and schooling have been reformed through government interventions. "Education Policy Research" presents new research findings on the realities of how educational practice can be understood and explained, so enabling researchers to take a reflexive stance towards their own work. The editors and contributors take seriously the need to rethink their data and consider the contribution of research dispositions and practices to ongoing change and development. At the same time, the chapters give recognition to what research and researchers can and cannot do, contributing to the ongoing debates about the value of - and the urgent ongoing need for - social science research.

In "Education Policy Research," Helen M. Gunter, David Hall and Colin Mills bring together contributions from a range of researchers, academics and practitioners. Each chapter draws on critical theoretical perspectives and showcases innovative research projects within educational settings to understand the current changes in schools, schooling and education, to explore critical questions. The varied accounts demonstrate the importance of partnerships between schools and higher education, and of putting educational research into context, specifically charting the ways in which schools and schooling have been reformed through government interventions. "Education Policy Research" presents new research findings on the realities of how educational practice can be understood and explained, so enabling researchers to take a reflexive stance towards their own work. The editors and contributors take seriously the need to rethink their data and consider the contribution of research dispositions and practices to ongoing change and development. At the same time, the chapters give recognition to what research and researchers can and cannot do, contributing to the ongoing debates about the value of - and the urgent ongoing need for - social science research.