This new book provides a cross-country comparative analysis of the key issues shaping the latest pension reforms in Europe: political games, welfare models and pathways, population reactions, and observed and expected outcomes. Pension reform has been a top policy priority for European governments in the last decade. Ageing populations, changing labour market patterns and the process of European integration are the 'irresistible forces' pushing for reform throughout the region. The Political Economy of Pension Reform evaluates the political forces that make pension reform viable in different national and institutional contexts and the nature of political bargains, actors and cleavages surrounding policy change. The volume also examines the nature and outcomes of pension reform experiences in Europe, searching for a solution to the financial challenge posed by growing pension budgets. By addressing the nature of change, the pathways of reform, and the outcomes of the new pension mix in the region, the authors conclude with an analysis of people's perceptions and attitudes towards pension policy and their acceptance or otherwise of different reform options. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international political economy, European politics, and social policy.

European social development over the last century has been characterized by an increasing inclusiveness of people into the ever-larger collectives of the nation state, the European Union and categories of welfare entitlement. Yet recent empirical data suggests that income gaps are growing and that within the physical borders of Europe there is a greater cultural and ethnic heterogeneity than ever before. Effectively, many of the processes of inclusion are accompanied by exclusion and the creation of new borders, identities and rights. Inclusions and Exclusions in European Societies features eminent contributors from across Europe addressing the problems of inclusion and exclusion as they affect European societies today. Amongst the topics addressed are: to what extent classical theory provides useful ways of reframing European societies which inequalities in work and welfare persist today and in what ways they have been transformed in processes of European integration how considerations of new identities and the pressure of globalisation affect the forms of inclusion and exclusion in Europe. This book constitutes a unique stock-taking of many of the central issues in European social integration or disintegration today.

This new book provides a cross-country comparative analysis of the key issues shaping the latest pension reforms in Europe: political games, welfare models and pathways, population reactions, and observed and expected outcomes.

Pension reform has been a top policy priority for European governments in the last decade. Ageing populations, changing labour market patterns and the process of European integration are the 'irresistible forces' pushing for reform throughout the region.

The Political Economy of Pension Reform evaluates the political forces that make pension reform viable in different national and institutional contexts and the nature of political bargains, actors and cleavages surrounding policy change. The volume also examines the nature and outcomes of pension reform experiences in Europe, searching for a solution to the financial challenge posed by growing pension budgets. By addressing the nature of change, the pathways of reform, and the outcomes of the new pension mix in the region, the authors conclude with an analysis of people's perceptions and attitudes towards pension policy and their acceptance or otherwise of different reform options.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international political economy, European politics, and social policy.

Series Information:
Routledge/European Sociological Association Studies in European Societies

In the post war years European integration was driven by nation states attempting to stimulate economic growth and social cohesion through European trade and cooperation. The results were prosperous and unified Western European societies were based on full employment and redistributive welfare states. However, in today's Europe - a Europe subject to increasing international competition fuelled by both economic and cultural globalisation - the European social model needs to be re-examined, yet its emphasis on cohesion remains crucial for the future of Europe as a unified polity. Will Europe Work? Brings together some of the leading names in European sociology to look at the construction of this new European social order through changing patterns of employment and Welfare and changing definitions of citizenship and identity.
This collection is divided into three sections.
* The first asks how recent developments have changed the old European model of employment and social protection, and outlines a possible new European social model.
* The second focuses on the questions of European identity and European borders, with special emphasis on cultural divisions such as ethnicity.
* The third concentrates on institutions such as citizenship and language, and reflects on sociology's ability to address European integration and the new European social order.

eBook available with sample pages: 020316735X

Family enterprises make up the majority of all businesses across Western Europe. Nonetheless, they are seen as an endangered species. Succession is an especially critical moment for their survival. The succession process is shaped by the dynamics of generational relations in the family. Different institutional contexts between countries create diverse conditions for the negotiation between the generations. Doing Succession in Europe examines whether and how succession processes in European family businesses vary. Scholars of the family, capitalism, welfare state and law discuss comparative findings and ideas; business and legal experts highlight the concrete practices.

In all Western countries, people are leaving work earlier than ever before - at a time when their life expectancy keeps increasing. How has this paradoxical process been brought about? What is the impact of labour markets and social policy? And what will be the effect of this massive lengthening of retirement? Time for Retirement addresses the 'aging of society' and the restructuring of the life course in terms of the changing relationship between work and reitrement. Detailed information based on the retirement policies of seven countries provides the basis for a comparative analysis aimed at assessing the range of possible political responses to these changes. The editors and contributors are among the leading social scientists in the field of life-course studies, aging, and social policy.

In all Western countries, people are retiring earlier than ever before, and people are living longer, thus prolonging the length of retirement. What are the effects of this phenomenon on society in general and on the labor force, and what are the psychological effects on retirees? Time for Retirement addresses the "aging of society" and the restructuring of the life course in terms of the changing relationship between work and retirement. Practically, it assesses the range of possible political answers to this process, with a comparative analysis of different national regimes.

Die empirische Untersuchung, die diesem Buch zugrunde liegt, ist im Marz 1988 mit einem Berieht an die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft abgeschlo Ben worden. DaB sich die Fertigstellung der Buchfassung so lange verzogert hat, liegt an den Problemen, die aus dem System des akademischen Arbeits marktes und der ProjektfOrderung erwachsen. Aufgrund der Notwendigkeit, neue Projekte zu akquirieren und zu bearbeiten, und - fUr einige Mitarbeiter - aufgrund der Notwendigkeit, andere Stellen anzutreten und sich mit ganzer Energie auf die neuen Aufgaben zu konzentrieren, hat immer wieder die MuBe gefehlt, die fUr eine griindliche Uberarbeitung der einzelnen Untersuchungs teile und ihres Zusammenhangs erforderlich war. Allerdings scheint uns die VerzOgerung an der Geltung unserer Uberlegun gen und Befunde niehts zu andern. Das Altern der Gesellsehaft veraltet nieht. Unsere Untersuchung zielt auf Strukturen und Lebensformen, deren Verbrei tung und Bedeutung eher zu- als abnehmen wird. Der publizistische Gefeehts larm, den das Altern der Gesellschaft fUr kurze Zeit zu entfaehen begann (bei spielhaft sei die SPIEGEL-Titelgeschiehte Kampf der Generationen: lung ge gen alt yom 31.7.1989 genannt), hat sich inzwischen zwar unter dem Ansturm neuer Themen wieder gelegt, aber das Problem seIber ist damit nieht ver schwunden. DaB die ersten Pulverdiimpfe schon verzogen sind, gibt uns viel leieht die Chance zu einer weniger aufgeregten Erorterung der neuen Lebens formen, die mit dem zunehmenden gesellschaftlichen Gewicht des Alters und der Alteren zu entstehen beginnen."

Verlassliche Informationen uber die alternde Gesellschaft sind bisher dunn gesat. Der Alters-Survey - gefordert vom Bundesministerium fur Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend - schafft hier Abhilfe. Er basiert auf einer grossen, anspruchsvoll angelegten Reprasentativuntersuchung der deutschen Bevolkerung im Alter von 40 bis 85 Jahren. Diese kann sowohl im Sinne einer Sozialberichterstattung wie auch zur Klarung zentraler Theoretischer Fragen genutzt werden.
Das Buch bietet eine umfassende Darstellung der soziologischen Befunde des Alters-Survey."

Das Generationenthema ist gleichermassen popular wie kontrovers. Seine Popularitat zeigt sich an der Generationenetikettierungswut, von der auch manche Soziologen ergriffen sind. Wie kontrovers das Thema ist, wird daran deutlich, dass von der einen Seite ein "Krieg der Generationen" heraufbeschworen wird, wahrend andernorts von einer "neuen Solidaritat zwischen den Generationen" die Rede ist.
In diesem Buch erlautern die fuhrenden Vertreter der Generationenforschung den Stand der Diskussion und zeigen, was die Generationenforschung fur die Analyse von Familie und Gesellschaft leisten kann."