Few discussions in modern social science have occupied as much attention as the changing nature of the welfare states in Western societies. The author aims to provide an analysis of the character and future of welfare institutions and discusses several types of welfare state, connecting these with variations in the historical development of different Western countries. Current economic processes, the author argues, such as those moving towards a post-industrial order, are not shaped by autonomous market forces but by the nature of states and state differences.

Our future depends very much on how we respond to three great challenges of the new century, all of which threaten to increase social inequality: first, how we adapt institutions to the new role of women - the 'incomplete revolution' of our time; second, how we prepare our children for the knowledge economy; and, third, how we respond to the new demography, in particular low fertility and an ageing population.

In this new book Gosta Esping-Andersen - the leading analyst of the welfare state - examines how different societies have responded to these challenges. It focuses...