Flexibility is an ambiguous concept. This book contributes to expounding the importance of clearer concepts in the debates on economic systems, labour markets and work organization. The authors place 'flexibility' in a new theoretical context as juxtaposed to 'stability'. Much terminological confusion and is resolved by this suggestion.

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 book presents conceptual tools and theoretical perspectives that can be used to sociologically analyze labour markets in modern capitalist societies. It makes use of the rich heritage of sociological thinking and draws on the classical work of Marx, Weber and Durkheim as well as structural-functionalist contributions. Contemporary sociological thinking is criticized for its tendency to exaggerate change in labour markets while the need to consider continuity is emphasized. Conceptual tools and perspectives are applied based on concrete phenomena, as the author combines abstract...