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Is there any reason to expect some form of socialism to do better than any form of capitalism in terms of securing a high sustainable level of basic income? None of the familiar arguments against capitalism—from market failures to cyclical crises and the reserve army of the unemployed— can justify the presumption that it will do worse than socialism in terms of efficiency. On the contrary, the fundamental fact that, unlike what happens under socialism, capitalist firms have to submit to the ruthless rule ‘Innovate or perish’ justify the presumption of capitalism's superior dynamic efficiency. But in a globalized capitalist economy, the sovereignty democratically exercised over this larger wealth keeps eroding, to the point that capitalist societies become unable to sustainably turn part of it into a higher basic income than would be possible under the best version of feasible socialism?

This chapter analyses the political support for unemployment benefits. The traditional view, which focuses on their insurance value, is reformulated. We qualify it by introducing positive effects of unemployment benefits on wages, which may overturn the traditional predictions. For example, an increase in exposure to unemployment may reduce the support for employment protection, rather than increase it, as is predicted when insurance effects dominate. The chapter also discusses the determinants of active labour market policies.

In the last two to three years, the acronym NEET, for “not in education, employment, or training,” has cropped up in policy discussions surrounding young people's transition from school to work, particularly in the United Kingdom. This new category of young people refers to those who are not just economically inactive but also seemingly completely inactive, occupying an unconstructive (and potentially threatening) position on the social topography. This chapter examines NEET status to see how it has influenced late-life NEET status and how this has differed by country. Data for the analyses come from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), which is a harmonized sample survey organized and largely funded by Eurostat, covering most member countries of the European Union during its data collection phases (1994–2001).

This chapter explores the oppositional role of the voluntary sector in a period of hardship and social unrest, considering the Anglican Church's response to Thatcherism. Despite secularisation and declining denominational identity, the Church was still a central part of the charitable and welfare sector in the 1980s, when the Thatcher governments championed the role of voluntarism in retraining and work schemes, in an era of mass unemployment. However, its response to Thatcherism was complex and internally divided. Church Action with the Unemployed (CAWTU) was framed in a ‘non-political’, paternalistic way, whereas 1985's Faith in the City report provided a critique of the underlying causes of poverty, articulating an opposition to reactionary social thought that can be traced back to nineteenth-century Christian Socialism.

The chapter explores empirical evidence for the claim that the non‐employed in post‐industrial labour markets are more likely to make the transition into employment than has previously been the case. It concludes that whilst the unemployed and the inactive remain distinct groups with regards to transitions into employment, post‐industrial labour markets have indeed become more inclusive. Only a few countries saw decreased odds of transition over time for the unemployed, controlling for macroeconomic conditions. The picture for the inactive is more mixed cross‐nationally. Regarding the question whether an increasingly inclusive labour market is associated with a reduction in job quality, as measured by contract type, the study finds that there is a trend towards more precarious employment for the recently non-employed in some countries such as the Czech Republic, France, Italy, and Belgium. In Denmark, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Hungary, however, there was the opposite trend towards more permanent employment.

While most of the Eastern European countries suffered under the mortality crises, the Czech Republic on the other hand experienced an improvement in its population. In most of the Eastern European countries experiencing mortality crises, the main reason attributed to their mortality crises is the stress brought about by the uncertainty and joblessness of being unemployed. Another factor is that during the transition period, income differentiation made a substantial number of the population fall below the poverty line. Among the transition countries, the Czech Republic experienced the smoothest transition to which the decline in mortality rate is attributed. In this chapter, the demographic, social and economic changes within the Czech Republic are analysed with the objective of determining the main factor that contributed to the increase in life expectancy of people there.

This chapter argues that the State is no longer seen as a provider of employment, but rather as a provider of ‘employability’ directly focusing on the unemployed (rather than on the labour market or the economy). One can observe a series of emerging trends in the delivery of ‘employability’ measures, and in particular the growing individualization, personalization, and contractualization of these employability ‘services’. These trends raise a number of problematic points (Are these real contracts? Are they illiberal contracts or unequal contracts? What should be the limits to administrative discretion in this sensitive area? What is the nature of the multilateral contracts including private contractors?), which are addressed in separate points.

Contemporary programmes are replete with themes and rationales that are similar to those of the Poor Law era. For this reason, the socio-legal history of the poor laws provides an introduction to the institutions, themes, and rationales of welfare-to-work, descendants of which may be detected today. This chapter argues that at different points in time (and sometimes simultaneously), four different rationales can be detected in Poor Law programmes: deterrence, economics, morality, and quid-pro-quo. These rationales are all realized through the same common goal: that of conditionality. And yet, each rationale derives from a distinct vision of the relationship between the individual and the state and thus has a different impact on the emphasis of welfare programmes.

This chapter introduces contemporary welfare-to-work programmes in the United States and Britain. It focuses on the way contemporary welfare-to-work programmes are characterized by the conditioning of benefits upon obligations. Employing the same four rationales used when assessing the Poor Law programmes (deterrence, economics, morality and quid-pro-quo), the chapter draws attention to the existence of the conditional attribute of welfare programmes by outlining the rationales motivating each type of conditioning.

Showing that she values moral integrity over a paycheck, Negri makes her break from Germany by way of a routine vacation provided by the UFA. She leaves her possessions behind so her employers won't suspect that she intends to flee. Chapter 20 discusses her survival instincts and her intense love of her mother, with whom she reconnects. Negri returns to America in a very different fashion than when she first came over all those years ago. By now, the former superstar is jobless, without money, and accused of being a Nazi sympathizer. Hoping to erase this stigma, she attempts to throw herself back into the movie scene with Hi Diddle Diddle, but Hollywood turns out to be an unwelcoming place for her. In a very uncharacteristic move, Negri leaves for New York a defeated woman.

A worker is one who engages in compensated work, regardless of social class or status or how the money is earned. A worker may be a professional person such as a physician or lawyer or someone who out of necessity works in a job that others do not want. Some workers are temporarily out of work and others are permanently unemployed but they have worked and at least expect to work again. Workers who cannot find jobs are at much higher risk for a variety of health problems and psychological adjustment problems because being unemployed can be very stressful. Outreach programs are designed to provide services or education to a group of workers who are not likely to receive a message through traditional media or from their employers. Hiring and leave policies are factors that tend to work together for the disadvantage of women, leading to inequality in the workplace. The capacity of women to do work is a question of fitness to work, no different from that for men. The capacity to do hard work is specific to the individual and some women are much stronger and have more stamina than some men. Women who are healthy and fully mature are not significantly more susceptible to toxic exposures than men. In general, measures that protect the health of men are sufficient to protect the health of women, and if a hazard places women at risk, men are at risk also in the same workplace.

This chapter asks whether some or all of the unemployed should be viewed as a distinct underclass. It argues that one segment of the unemployed can be identified as a discrete underclass, which comprises of unemployed people who were heavily disadvantaged in the labour market. The chapter utilizes the 1993 Project for Statistics on Living Standards and Development (PSLSD) data to identify an underclass of unemployed people at the end of apartheid.

This chapter draws together the themes of the previous two chapters to analyse how the unemployed responded to the means test. While many studies of the unemployed have noted that the movement against the means test generated the largest interwar demonstrations, there has been little attempt to look at these movements in detail. By comparing the anti-means test protests in south Wales and the north-east of England, this chapter considers how protests were shaped by place, political culture and traditions. The attempts to develop a sustained movement of the unemployed by the Communist Party and the affiliated National Unemployment Workers’ Movement are contrasted to the leadership offered by the Labour Party and trade unions. The protests of unemployed and employed, men and women and the policing of the marchers, are considered at a local, regional and national level. While the marches of the unemployed may have captured the public imagination, this chapter is also concerned with the other ways in which the voice of protest could be expressed.

This chapter focuses on the methods and principles used by the officialsss for evaluating the applications for Fonds d'urgence sociale or Social Emergency Fund (Fus). The fund was set up by French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in January 1998 as a political response to the growing protests by the unemployed and the adverse public opinion generated by the media focus on it. The aim of this emergency fund was to address the most difficult situations that could not be resolved through social security. A series of interviews and the analysis of a sample of applications for the grant aid to evaluate the efficacy of the applicants' arguments and the rhetorical choices made by them in their attempt to move the officials are also present. Especially factors such as composition of the family of the applicants and concern for children or for aging parents also influenced the evaluation process of the applications.

Ireland’s exceptionally severe economic crisis needs to be viewed in some historical and comparative perspective. Although living standards have fallen very sharply over the last few years, they declined from an artificially high level associated with the property bubble and unsustainable fiscal policies. Despite the acute shocks and stresses, Irish society has shown remarkable resilience and responsibility, unlike many other countries that have experienced similar, or even less traumatic shocks (though this will be of scant comfort to the rising numbers of those who are unemployed or are forced to emigrate). This chapter considers four selected issues that are relevant to the future outlook: (1) short- and medium-term growth prospects; (2) the euro debt problem in general and the debt burden facing Ireland in particular; (3) Ireland’s evolving relationship with Europe, in the context of major reforms of the euro area’s architecture; and (4) the changes in income and wealth in the wake of the crisis.

This chapter focuses on the short period of social evolution in France; the protests of the unemployed between 1997 to 1998, the reaction of the French government which led to the distribution of one million French franc to the claimants through the form of social relief called Fonds d'urgence sociale (FUS) and its consequences for the social welfare system. The first section of the chapter discusses reasons for the potential conflict between the French social welfare system and the unemployed. It places emphasis on the confused relationship between solidarity and citizenship. The second section discusses the history of the movements of the unemployed in France. It discusses their demonstrations, their association with other new social movements and the dissatisfaction that spurred their specific claims as a result of the Juppé plan and strikes in 1995. The third section analyses the social policy responses and the government decisions regarding the demonstrations of 1998. It specifically focuses on the creation and the management of the FUS, which affirms the shift towards a residualised model of citizenship. The chapter ends with a discussion of general lessons to be learnt on the long-term changes and the consequences of these protests.