These essays not only describe the major changes in British society in recent years, but seek to understand and explain what is happening. They consider the wide variety of mechanisms that underlie these changes, in particular processes of social interaction. The ill-understood nature of these mechanisms may be a major reason why so much social reform has proved ineffective. By highlighting the complexities of the causal mechanisms, sociological research can make a major contribution to policy and public debate. While these papers do not claim that sociology will provide all the answers, they...

The most important and disturbing change in the British labor market over the last two decades has been the re-emergence of mass unemployment. This study is a powerful and comprehensive investigation of the effects of being unemployed on individuals' attitudes towards work, their social relationships, and their psychological health. Breaking new ground in the study of unemployment, the editors use large-scale surveys that allow the first direct comparison between the unemployed and their working counterparts. Their survey takes into account a wide range of variables including the local labor...

The single most important change in the British labour market over the last two decacdes has been the re-emergence of mass unemployment. This study focuses on six areas: Aberdeen, Kirkcaldy, Rochdale, Coventry, Northampton, and Swindon, and investigates the effect of being unemployed on individuals' attitudes to work, their social relationships, and their psychological health. It covers the ground, using large-scale surveys that allow direct comparison with people in employment and taking into account a wide range of variables.

Over the last twenty years, most countries have experienced periods of high unemployment. While this always leads to increased poverty and personal distress, the severity of the effects has varied substantially from country to country. This book looks closely at some of the key factors behind these differences. It provides for the first time clear evidence about the way in which the nature of the welfare arrangements in a country, together with its family and friendship patterns, can affect the risk that unemployment leads to social exclusion.

This new study presents the first large-scale empirical analysis of the changes in British work experiences and employment relationships between the 1980s and 1990s. Drawing evidence from the Employment in Britain survey, it demonstrates that, despite a marked trend towards upskilling, the restructuring of the employment relationship has actually reinforced traditional lines of division in the workplace.

You already hold the text file, from the hardback edition 019-828039-4

This book breaks new ground by bringing together recent research into the determinants of marginalization risks for the unemployed and research into new social policies for combating marginalization. It examines the major controversies about how far entrapment in unemployment is due to resource constraints, motivational problems, or skill deficiency. It examines the forms that new policies have taken, the way they vary between EU countries, and the effects they have had on the life experiences of the unemployed. Its central concern is how far the new policies developed in the 1990s, in...

This is a major new contribution to work on unemployment in Europe. Leading scholars come together to provide a comparative analysis of social policies for combating marginalization of the unemployed across the European Union. Drawing on the results of important research programmes funded by the European Commission, the book puts forward the case for a substantial revision of current policy priorities.

This book, first published in 1983, examines in depth the nature and sources of class radicalism in France and Britain.

The quality of working life has been central to the sociological agenda for several decades, and has also been increasingly salient as a policy issue, and for companies. This book breaks new ground in the study of the quality of work by providing the first rigorous comparative assessment of the way it has been affected by the economic crisis. It examines the implications of the crisis on developments in skills and training, employees' control over their jobs, and the pressure of work and job security. It also assesses how changing experiences at work affect people's lives outside of work: the...