Economic Crisis, Quality of Work, and Social Integration ― The European Experience

The quality of working life has been central to the sociological agenda for several decades, and has also been increasingly salient as a policy issue, and for companies. This book breaks new ground in the study of the quality of work by providing the first rigorous comparative assessment of the way it has been affected by the economic crisis. It examines the implications of the crisis on developments in skills and training, employees' control over their jobs, and the pressure of work and job security. It also assesses how changing experiences at work affect people's lives outside of work: the risks of work-life conflict, the motivation to work, personal well-being, and attitudes towards society.

The book draws on a rich new source of evidence--the European Social Survey-to provide a comparative view over the period 2004 to 2010. The survey provides evidence for countries across the different regions of Europe and allows for a detailed assessment of the view that institutional differences between European societies--in terms of styles of management, social partnership practices, and government policies--lead to very different levels of work quality and different experiences of the crisis. This comparative aspect will thus forward our understanding of how institutional differences between European societies affect work experiences and their implications for non-work life.

Duncan Gallie, Professor of Sociology and Official Fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford

Professor Duncan Gallie CBE FBA is an Official Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford and Professor of Sociology in the University of Oxford. His research has focused on comparative European studies of the quality of employment and of unemployment. He has served on Advisory Committees of several European research institutions - IRESCO, L'IFRESI and the Paris School of Economics in France and The National Institute of Social Research in Denmark. He has advised the French government as a member of an expert group set up on psychosocial risks at work. He was a member of the EU Advisory Group on 'Social Sciences and Humanities in the European Research Area' for the Sixth Framework Programme. He served as Vice-President Social Sciences (2004-2006) and then as Foreign Secretary and Vice-President of the British Academy (2006-2011).