Originally published in 1980, the essays in this volume analyse a family of phenomena in advanced industrial societies for which neither liberal nor Marxist theories provide a systematic explanation. Berger and Piore argue that these phenomena represent a structural solution to the economic and political problems of distributing economic uncertainty and preserving political stability. The discontinuities in industrial societies are not the product of incomplete modernisation but of political and economic choices that perpetuate and recreate segmentation to protect critical political and economic mechanisms. Studies by Piore examine the labour market and its relationship to technological innovation and capital investment, whilst those by Berger explore the social foundation of political parties and the formation of state policy as it emerges from competitive political forces.
