Originally published in 2005. The primary focus of this work is the relationship between family, work and the welfare system. Focusing on Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, the study draws comparisons between societies which represent different types of welfare mix between state, market and civil society. Three important issues in the transformation of the European welfare state systems are considered: The conditions for social citizenship in European welfare states and how they have changed in relation to family and work; Changes in the provision of social welfare and how they have affected the interrelationship between the welfare state, the market and civil society; The impacts of constraints on public expenditure and the financing of the welfare state. The authors discuss the question of whether the welfare states of these countries have profoundly changed over the last ten to fifteen years and examine how this might provide insights into the contemporary welfare state. The framework developed by the authors can be applied in other specific areas of the development and transformation of welfare states.

In nearly all OECD countries, the labour market has been in flux in recent decades. This book examines the labour markets and the institutional frameworks that condition their functioning in four different countries: Canada, the United States, Denmark and Sweden. Through a comparative study of these cases, the book discusses the nation-specific patterns that exist in a world that seems to become increasingly subject to common social and economic development.

This volume represents the present state of theoretical debate in welfare state scholarship, drawing on research from western Europe, North America and Japan. It therefore provides a valuable balance of breadth and detail from the broad international overview to comparisons between specific welfare states and national case studies.

Are the recent developments in Europe bringing countries together or pulling them apart? The leading experts in this book (including Sheila Allen, Marlis Buchmann, Piotr Sztompka, and Patrick Ziltener) cover a wide range of subjects, including the move towards political democracy and market economy in Central and Eastern societies, the project of the European Union, ethnic conflict, the rise of nationalism, social exclusion and women's role in public life.

In nearly all OECD countries, the labour market has been in flux in recent decades. This book examines the labour markets and the institutional frameworks that condition their functioning in four different countries: Canada, the United States, Denmark and Sweden. Through a comparative study of these cases, the book discusses the nation-specific patterns that exist in a world that seems to become increasingly subject to common social and economic development.

Contents:
Introduction: Gender, welfare state and the market: towards a new division of labour? Thomas P. Boje and Arnlaug Leira
Section 1: Women's Employment and Welfare Systems
1. Paid work, unpaid work and welfare: towards a framework for studying welfare state variation Mary Daly
2. Citizenship, family policy and women's pattern of employment Thomas P. Boje and Anna-Lena Almqvist
3. Variation within post-fordist and liberal welfare state countries, women's work and social rights in Canada and the United States Cecilia Benoit
4. Family policy and mothers' employment: cross-national varitions Janet Gornick
Section II. Family Policy - Work and Care in Different Welfare Systems
5. Gendered Policies: family obligations and social policies in Europe Chiara Saraceno
6. Combining work and family: Nordic policy reforms in the 1990s Arnlaug Leira
7. Child care policies in Japan: post-war developments and recent reforms Ito Peng
8. Changing obligations and expectations: lone parenthood and social policy Jane Millar
9. Solo mothers - how do they work and care in different welfare state regimes? Jørgen Elm Larsen
10. Labour, gender, and the state Evelyn Mahon

Are the recent developments in Europe bringing countries together or pulling them apart? The experts in this work cover a wide range of subjects, including the move towards political democracy and market economy in Central and Eastern societies, the project of the European Union, ethnic conflict, the rise of nationalism, social exclusion and women's role in public life. Contributors include: Thomas P.Boje, Bart Van Steenbergen, Sylvia Walby, Sheila Allen, Sara Arber, Volker Bornschier, Rosemary Crompton, Marlis Buchmann, Godfried Engbersen, Ute Gerhard, Mark Mitchell, John Rex, Dave Russell, Julia Szalai, Piotr Sztompka, Goran Therborn, Alain Touraine and Patrick Ziltener.