Economic Restructuring and the Growing Uncertainty of the Middle Class

Economic Restructuring and the Growing Uncertainty of the Middle Class PDF Author: Bram Steijn
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461556554
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 179

Get Book Here

Book Description
Economic Restructuring and the Growing Uncertainty of the Middle Class focuses on a relatively new research area which is becoming increasingly more important: the growing uncertainty of the middle class. Until recently, members of the middle class were not only assured of a good social and economic position but also of the continuation of this position. Nowadays, economic and organisational changes are threatening this once secure position. The boundaries between the middle classes and the working class are becoming less and less visible. `Making a career', which was in the past central for middle class people, is becoming ever more difficult. Moreover, organisational restructuring is threatening their employment. It seems that insecurity is becoming a central element in the lives of members of the middle class. In this book experts from several European countries discuss the question of to what extent the position of the middle class is really changing. They also discuss the mechanisms that are propelling these changes, and the effects these changes have on the attitudes of middle-class people. As the experts are from several parts of Europe (Great Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Greece, Spain and Russia), the reader can compare the situation of the middle classes in these various countries. This book contains valuable information for anyone interested in this important topic: not only for those involved in the studies of economic and organisational change and social stratification and those interested in the similarities and differences between European countries, but (amongst others) for policy-makers, managers, and trade union representatives who will be dealing with problems induced by the changes that are discussed in the book.

Economic Restructuring and the Growing Uncertainty of the Middle Class

Economic Restructuring and the Growing Uncertainty of the Middle Class PDF Author: Bram Steijn
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461556554
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 179

Get Book Here

Book Description
Economic Restructuring and the Growing Uncertainty of the Middle Class focuses on a relatively new research area which is becoming increasingly more important: the growing uncertainty of the middle class. Until recently, members of the middle class were not only assured of a good social and economic position but also of the continuation of this position. Nowadays, economic and organisational changes are threatening this once secure position. The boundaries between the middle classes and the working class are becoming less and less visible. `Making a career', which was in the past central for middle class people, is becoming ever more difficult. Moreover, organisational restructuring is threatening their employment. It seems that insecurity is becoming a central element in the lives of members of the middle class. In this book experts from several European countries discuss the question of to what extent the position of the middle class is really changing. They also discuss the mechanisms that are propelling these changes, and the effects these changes have on the attitudes of middle-class people. As the experts are from several parts of Europe (Great Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Greece, Spain and Russia), the reader can compare the situation of the middle classes in these various countries. This book contains valuable information for anyone interested in this important topic: not only for those involved in the studies of economic and organisational change and social stratification and those interested in the similarities and differences between European countries, but (amongst others) for policy-makers, managers, and trade union representatives who will be dealing with problems induced by the changes that are discussed in the book.

Stemming Middle-Class Decline

Stemming Middle-Class Decline PDF Author: Nancey Green Leigh
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351488104
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book Here

Book Description
Are Americans as well-off as they used to be? The answer affects everything from product markets and housing sales to social tranquility and presidential (and local) elections. This volume examines what is happening to the American middle class. In a detailed and comprehensive analysis, Nancey Green Leigh tracks changes in the pattern of income distribution over a twenty-year period. While earnings have increased, there is a widening gap between what middle-level earnings can purchase and the cost of a middle standard of living.Due to the fact that this decline has not been experienced equally in all regions, separate analyses are reported for urban and rural locations, major census regions, and the largest states. To identify which workers have been most affected, Leigh compares earning trends by race, gender, educational level, industry of employment, part- or full-time status, and fringe benefit recipiency. Rejecting short-term and demographic explanations, Leigh links the decline of the middle class to economic change and industrial restructuring.Leigh concludes her work by examining planning and policy prescriptions to improve the prospects of members - and aspiring members - of the middle economic class. She documents the decreasing ability of middle-level earners to purchase a middle standard of living and attributes the decline in part to failures in planning. Failures of planning, she observes, have contributed to the growing divergence between middle-level earnings and the middle standard of living. Stemming Middle-Class Decline provides comprehensive data and trends on workers, communities, regions, and the nation that all policymakers and government officials should read and examine with care.

The Coming Class War and How to Avoid it

The Coming Class War and How to Avoid it PDF Author: Paul E Peterson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315292955
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 130

Get Book Here

Book Description
A clear, accessible analysis of the worsening distribution of income and wealth in America.

Social Exclusion in Europe

Social Exclusion in Europe PDF Author: Paul Littlewood
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351899503
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description
Exclusion has come to hold a prominent place in the political discourse of all governments in the European Union and in the European Commission itself. As such, it figures importantly in various research agencies’ funding priorities attracting academics to develop and conduct major research programmes. But what does it mean? This book analyzes the different meanings the term exclusion has come to convey and surveys a wide variety of actual applications in different European countries.

The Other People

The Other People PDF Author: M. Wilkes Karraker
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137296968
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book offers an interdisciplinary and accessible approach to issues of global migration in the twenty-first century in 13 essays plus an appendix written by scholars and practitioners in the field.

Economic Dignity

Economic Dignity PDF Author: Gene Sperling
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1984879898
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Get Book Here

Book Description
“Timely and important . . . It should be our North Star for the recovery and beyond.” —Hillary Clinton “Sperling makes a forceful case that only by speaking to matters of the spirit can liberals root their belief in economic justice in people’s deepest aspirations—in their sense of purpose and self-worth.” —The New York Times When Gene Sperling was in charge of coordinating economic policy in the Obama White House, he found himself surprised when serious people in Washington told him that the Obama focus on health care was a distraction because it was “not focused on the economy.” How, he asked, was the fear felt by millions of Americans of being one serious illness away from financial ruin not considered an economic issue? Too often, Sperling found that we measured economic success by metrics like GDP instead of whether the economy was succeeding in lifting up the sense of meaning, purpose, fulfillment, and security of people. In Economic Dignity, Sperling frames the way forward in a time of wrenching change and offers a vision of an economy whose guiding light is the promotion of dignity for all Americans.

Job Insecurity, Union Involvement and Union Activism

Job Insecurity, Union Involvement and Union Activism PDF Author: Hans De Witte
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351154907
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume contains empirical analyses of European psychologists and sociologists on the impact of job insecurity on trade union membership, activism and upon the attitudes of individual workers towards unions. Little is currently known about the impact of job insecurity on the union participation of workers, which is significant given the importance of trade unions in European collective bargaining systems. This volume reports innovative and pioneering research on this research gap. It answers questions such as: do workers more easily join unions because of job insecurity, or does it make them leave the union? Does it influence participation in work's council elections or affect the intention to become a union activist? And are workers less satisfied and less committed to their unions when they experience job insecurity? The book contains recommendations for policy makers, social partners and practitioners in the field of work and organizations.

Civil Society and Class Politics

Civil Society and Class Politics PDF Author: Irving Louis Horowitz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351528335
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
Seymour Martin Lipset's work throughout a long and distinguished career has been stamped by several features: a powerful linkage of research data and social theory, innovative views of historical events, and a realization that politics is an activity native to all human beings, voters and non-voters, democratic and non-democratic systems, and advanced and developing economies. He has earned the right to be called a genuine pioneer in the field now recognized as political sociology. In this special collection of professional comment and personal tribute, some of Lipset's closest colleagues have gathered to review his life work in political sociology. This volume includes essays on sociology and socialism, the collapse of class politics, political leadership, the perpetuation of inequality across generations, political extremism, religion as a source of polarization, working-class authoritarianism, and an examination of civil life in the United States across the century. Among the contributors are Nathan Glazer, Terry Nichols Clark, Richard J. Samuels, Sidney Verba, Nancy Burns, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Robert B. Smith, William Schneider, Dick Houtman, and Marcella Ridlen Ray. The volume is further graced by two special features: an academic memoir entitled "Steady Work" written by Lipset, and a full-scale bibliography of his books, monographs and pamphlets. In short, this is a specialist volume for social scientists that can be easily enjoyed by readers outside the field. This volume was initially presented as a double issue of The American Sociologist. Horowitz was commissioned by the editor of the journal to serve as special editor for the volume. In turn, the contributions originated at a series of invited panels at the Eastern Sociological Society meetings in 2002.

Falling Behind

Falling Behind PDF Author: Robert H. Frank
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780520902213
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
Although middle-income families don't earn much more than they did several decades ago, they are buying bigger cars, houses, and appliances. To pay for them, they spend more than they earn and carry record levels of debt. In a book that explores the very meaning of happiness and prosperity in America today, Robert Frank explains how increased concentrations of income and wealth at the top of the economic pyramid have set off "expenditure cascades" that raise the cost of achieving many basic goals for the middle class. Writing in lively prose for a general audience, Frank employs up-to-date economic data and examples drawn from everyday life to shed light on reigning models of consumer behavior. He also suggests reforms that could mitigate the costs of inequality. "Falling Behind "compels us to rethink how and why we live our economic lives the way we do. "Copub: Russell Sage Foundation"

Class and Politics in Contemporary Social Science

Class and Politics in Contemporary Social Science PDF Author: Dick Houtman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351528211
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book Here

Book Description
Dick Houtman argues that neither authoritarianism nor libertarianism can be explained by class or economic background, but rather by position in the cultural domain-- what he calls cultural capital. Although he examines all of the statistics and arguments of the conventional approaches with care and concern, Houtman convincingly demonstrates that the conclusions drawn from earlier studies are untenable at a more general theoretical level. Despite differences among advocates of class explanations, their theories are based on largely identical research findings--in particular a strong negative relationship between education and authoritarianism. Unobstructed by the conclusions these authors felt called upon to draw from the findings themselves, Houtman configures them in a new way. The hypotheses derived from this new theory allow for a systematic, strict, and competitive testing of original theses without ignoring the value of and earlier research. After demonstrating that authoritarianism and libertarianism cannot be explained by class or economic background, Houtman examines the implications of this argument for today's death of class debate in political sociology. He holds it to be unfortunate that the relevance of class to politics is typically addressed by studying the relation between class and voting. This conceals a complex cross-pressure mechanism that causes this relationship to capture the net balance of class voting and its opposite, cultural voting, instead of class voting. He argues that references to a decline in class voting may be basically correct, but dogmatic reliance on the relation between class and voting to prove the point systematically underestimates levels of class voting and produces an exaggerated picture of the decline.