This book explores the extent to which a transformation of public employment regimes has taken place in four Western countries, and the factors influencing the pathways of reform. It demonstrates how public employment regimes have unravelled in different domains of public service, contesting the idea that the state remains a 'model' employer.

This edited collection assembles cutting-edge comparative policy research on contemporary policies relevant to gender and workplace issues. Contributors analyze contemporary gender-related employment policies ranging from parental leave and maternity programs, sexual harassment, and work/life balance to gender mainstreaming. Gender and Work in Comparative Perspective thoroughly illustrates the richness of understanding that can be gained through the juxtaposition of a variety of research methodologies focused on a common theme. The side-by-side presentation of single case studies on countries such as Canada, the United States, Germany, and Japan allows readers to compare and understand a wide range of policy options, thereby integrating what are usually separate bodies of research on the role of gender in welfare state developments, employment transformations, workplace policies, and work experience. An essential tool for scholars in many fields, this volume clearly illustrates how national approaches to gender and workplace policy form a spectrum of alternatives that, while rooted in the historical and social cultures of individual nation-states, are also subject to similar international global and economic forces.

This edited collection assembles cutting-edge comparative policy research on contemporary policies relevant to gender and workplace issues. Contributors analyze contemporary gender-related employment policies ranging from parental leave and maternity programs, sexual harassment, and work/life balance to gender mainstreaming. Gender and Work in Comparative Perspective thoroughly illustrates the richness of understanding that can be gained through the juxtaposition of a variety of research methodologies focused on a common theme. The side-by-side presentation of single case studies on countries such as Canada, the United States, Germany, and Japan allows readers to compare and understand a wide range of policy options, thereby integrating what are usually separate bodies of research on the role of gender in welfare state developments, employment transformations, workplace policies, and work experience. An essential tool for scholars in many fields, this volume clearly illustrates how national approaches to gender and workplace policy form a spectrum of alternatives that, while rooted in the historical and social cultures of individual nation-states, are also subject to similar international global and economic forces.

In many Western countries, gender equality has not yet been achieved. Switzerland, in particular, has failed as a forerunner in integrating women in politics and the economy. With Switzerland as the case study, this book critically examines the state of gender equality in different policy areas, such as education, family, and labor. [Subject: Sociology, Gender Studies, Women's Studies, Social Policy, Swiss Studies, Politics]

Dieses Open-Access-Buch untersucht vor dem Hintergrund der kulturell hegemonialen Rolle der Mittelschichten in westlichen Gesellschaften sowie angesichts zeitdiagnostischer Behauptungen, dass "die Mitte" zunehmenden Verunsicherungen und Gefahrdungen ausgesetzt sei, die biographischen Orientierungen und Praktiken, die die Lebensfuhrung der Mittelschichten in Deutschland ausmachen.

In diesem Band untersuchen SozialwissenschaftlerInnen aus Westeuropa und den USA, was Strukturveranderungen in der Erwerbsarbeit, Grenzverschiebungen zwischen bezahlter und unbezahlter Arbeit und Arbeitsmarktreformen fur das Verhaltnis und die soziale Lage von Mannern und Frauen bedeuten.

Gesellschaftliche Veranderungen in Struktur, Dynamik und Definition sozialer Ungleichheit haben seit Mitte der achtziger Jahre Herausforderung fur das traditionell erwerbszentrierte, an die Kategorien "Klasse" und "Schicht" gebundene Verstandnis sozialer Ungleichheit gewirkt. Aber auch die Frauenforschung kann angesichts einer zunehmenden sozialen Differenzierung unter Frauen nicht bei der Behauptung einer durchgangigen sozialen Platzanweiserfunktion von "Geschlecht" stehen bleiben.
Die Arbeit untersucht einschlagige Neuorientierungen in der Ungleichheitssoziologie und der Frauenforschung unter dem Gesichtspunkt, inwieweit sie zu einem erweiterten Verstandnis sozialer Ungleichheit beitragen, das verschiedene Formen sozialer Hierarchisierung berucksichtigt, das gesellschaftsdiagnostisch aussagefahig ist und das last but not least auch die Definitionsmacht sozialwissenschaftlicher Aussagen kritisch reflektiert.
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