Handbook of Quality of Life in the Enlarged European Union

"Each chapter is very well-informed, data driven, and relevant for addressing current questions about the condition among EU countries and trends set in motion by enlargement....Recommended." Choice, December 2008

Jens Alber is Professor of Sociology at the Free University Berlin and Director of the Unit "Inequality and social integration" at the Social Science Center, Berlin, which chaired the international consortium that analyzed the European Quality of Life Survey. He is the author of numerous books and articles in the field of comparative political sociology. Tony Fahey is Professor in the Social Policy Research Division in the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin. He has published extensively on the family, religion, demography, the elderly, housing and various aspects of social policy. Chiara Saraceno is Full Professor of Sociology at the University of Turin, Italy and Chair of the PhD programme in Comparative Social Research. She has written extensively on family changes and family policies, on poverty and social policies, on gender and women's issues.

Editors' Introduction: The New Member States Before and After Accession Part 1: Fertility, Families and Households 1. Fertility Patterns and Aspirations in Europe Tony Fahey 2. Patterns of Family Living in Europe Chiara Saraceno 3. Is There a Generational Cleavage in Europe? Inter-Generational Patterns in the Perception of Pensions and Elderly Care Wolfgang Keck, Agnes Blome, and Jens Alber 4. Family Policies in the Enlarged European Union Thomas Bahle Part 2: Employment and Working Conditions 5. Employment Patterns in the Enlarged European Union Jens Alber 6. Working Conditions Claire Wallace and Florian Pichler 7. Regulation of Labour Markets in Europe Jelle Visser Part 3: Material Living Conditions 8. Poverty and Social Exclusion in an Enlarged Europe Christopher T. Whelan and Bertrand Maitre 9. Minimum Income Policies in Old and New Member States Bea Cantillon 10. Housing Conditions and Their Perception: The Paradox of Housing Henryk Domanski 11. Housing Policies and Institutional Drivers of Housing Inequalities Michelle Norris Part 4: Social Capital and Social Cohesion 12. Patterns of Sociability in the Enlarged Europe Manuela Olagnero and Paola Torrioni 13. Feeling Left Out: Patterns of Social Integration and Exclusion Petra Bhnke 14. Conflicts and Threats to Social Cohesion in New and Old Member States Jan Delhey and Wolfgang Keck Part 5: Processes of Europeanization 15. Patterns of Cross-Border Migration Hubert Krieger 16. Where we Stand in Europe: An Europeanization of Reference Groups for Social Comparisons? Jan Delhey and Ulrich Kohler 17. Conclusions: Similarities and Differences of Living Conditions: Does Europe Grow Together? The Editors 18. Methodological Appendix: A Quality Assessment of Different European Surveys: Towards an Open Method of Coordination for Survey Data Ulrich Kohler