Author Description

In today's Europe - a Europe subject to increasing international competition fuelled by both economic and cultural globalization - the European social model needs to be re-examined, yet its emphasis on cohesion remains crucial for the future of Europe as a unified polity. Will Europe Work? brings together some of the leading names in European sociology to look at the construction of this new European social order through changing patterns of employment and welfare and changing definitions of citizenship and identity. The book is divided into three parts. The first asks how recent developments have changed the old European model of employment and social protection, and outlines a possible new European social model. The second focuses on the questions of European identity and European citizenship, with special emphasis on borders and cultural divisions such as ethnicity. The third concentrates on institutions such as language and the public sphere, and reflects on sociology's ability to address the European process.