James Wickham – författare

This accessible new text introduces students to contemporary European societies by examining structures of inequality, making sense of the empirical and historical contexts.

Focusing on seven differing European societies (France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the UK), it examines the different ways in which sociology and political economy understand the social structure of contemporary Europe. Separate chapters outline key aspects of inequality, beginning with income, wealth and poverty, followed by occupation and social class, gender, regional inequality, ethnicity, and migration. By focusing on the role of the national welfare states of Europe in restraining economic inequality, the book enables a realistic appraisal of the ‘European Social Model’.

Key features:

This textbook will be essential reading for students of European studies, European politics, European societies, social inequality/structure, European welfare and policy and more broadly to sociology and public policy and administration.

This accessible new text introduces students to contemporary European societies by examining structures of inequality, making sense of the empirical and historical contexts.

Focusing on seven differing European societies (France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the UK), it examines the different ways in which sociology and political economy understand the social structure of contemporary Europe. Separate chapters outline key aspects of inequality, beginning with income, wealth and poverty, followed by occupation and social class, gender, regional inequality, ethnicity, and migration. By focusing on the role of the national welfare states of Europe in restraining economic inequality, the book enables a realistic appraisal of the ‘European Social Model’.

Key features:

This textbook will be essential reading for students of European studies, European politics, European societies, social inequality/structure, European welfare and policy and more broadly to sociology and public policy and administration.

This wide-ranging and comparative text reviews the major theoretical and substantive debates on social inequality in Europe. It provides a valuable dual focus on European society and individual societies while placing Europe in its wider global context.

Demonstrating the continued importance of national difference within Europe, the author argues that nonetheless the European Social Model has softened social inequalities such as those of wealth and income distribution, social class, gender and possibly even ethnicity. However these achievements are now being undermined, partially by the European Union itself. The book also challenges conventional wisdom on Europe’s alleged need for immigration and highlights the UK’s distinctiveness within Europe, explaining the country’s uneasy relation to the European project.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Politics, European Societies, Social Policy and Comparative Studies.

This wide-ranging and comparative text reviews the major theoretical and substantive debates on social inequality in Europe. It provides a valuable dual focus on European society and individual societies while placing Europe in its wider global context.

Demonstrating the continued importance of national difference within Europe, the author argues that nonetheless the European Social Model has softened social inequalities such as those of wealth and income distribution, social class, gender and possibly even ethnicity. However these achievements are now being undermined, partially by the European Union itself. The book also challenges conventional wisdom on Europe’s alleged need for immigration and highlights the UK’s distinctiveness within Europe, explaining the country’s uneasy relation to the European project.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Politics, European Societies, Social Policy and Comparative Studies.