Max Koch - Roads to Post-Fordism: Labour Markets and Social Structures in Europe

MAX KOCH
University of Ulster, Northern Ireland

First published 2006 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright 2006 Max Koch

Max Koch has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Koch, Max
Roads to post-Fordism: labour markets and social
structures in Europe
1.Labor economics 2.Social structure 3.Labor economics
Europe - Case studies 4.Social structure - Europe - Case
studies
I.Title
331.01

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Koch, Max, 1966
[Arbeitsmrkte und Sozialstrukturen in Europa. English]
Roads to post-Fordism: labour markets and social structures in Europe / by Max Koch.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
A translation of: Arbeitsmrkte und Sozialstrukturen in Europa. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, c2003.
Originally presented as the authors Habilitationsschrift (Freie Universitt Berlin, 2002) under the title: Wege zum Postfordismus.
ISBN 0-7546-4308-5
1. Labor market--Europe. 2. Industrial policy--Europe. 3. Europe--Economic conditions. 4. Europe--Social conditions. I. Title: Labour markets and social structures in Europe. II. Title: Labor markets and social structures in Europe. III. Title.

HD5764.A6K64 2006
331.101--dc22

2006003908

ISBN 9780754643081 (hbk)

This book is based on my Habilitation (the second doctoral thesis formally necessary for a professorship in the German-speaking world), which was accepted by the Faculty of Political and Social Science of the Freie Universitt Berlin in October 2002. The original German version was published by Westdeutscher Verlag with the title Arbeitsmrkte und Sozialstrukturen in Europa. Wege zum Postfordismus in den Niederlanden, Schweden, Spanien, Grobritannien und Deutschland in 2003. After my move to the University of Ulster, and many discussions of this work for example during the conferences of the European Sociological Association in Murcia and the Industrial Relations In Europe Conference in Utrecht the idea took shape to write a theoretically and empirically updated version in English. Readers who also know the German version will realize that the theoretical body has been streamlined and that some elements such as the section on closure theory have been added. Empirically, the country studies now cover the years from the early 1970s up until 2003 (instead of 1997, in the original version). This has led to greater or lesser reinterpretations of the data material, especially in the cases of Sweden, Spain and Germany.

I would like to thank a number of people and institutions that have made this book possible. First the social sciences team of Westdeutscher Verlag (now VS Verlag fr Sozialwissenschaften) for giving us permission to translate and adapt material from the original German publication. Second the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), who financed the original study (Project Code KO 1571/22). Third my colleagues at the Freie Universitt, Berlin who critically supported me in conducting the study and during the Habilitation examination. Fourth my colleagues from the ERASMUS/SOCRAT ES network, coordinated by Erasmus University, Rotterdam, which organizes annual intensive courses with themes relevant to the EU, and which facilitated contacts enabling me to conduct interviews in Spain, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands. Fifth my colleagues and students at the University of Ulster for encouraging me to see through the English version (living in Northern Ireland has also enhanced my European spirit immensely). Special thanks go to the European Studies Research Unit of the Academy of Irish Heritage Culture who paid for the index. Sixth the Department of Social Policy at the University of Lund, where I as a Visiting Scholar finalized the manuscript. For ongoing support and partnership I am grateful to E.

Derry and Berlin, June 2006 Max Koch

CC.OO. Comisiones obreras

CNV Christian National Union

D-Mark German mark

DIW Deutsches institut fr Wirtschaftsforschung

EU European Union

EUROSTAT Statistical Offce of the European Communities

FNV Confederation of dutch trade Unions

FRG Federal Republic of Germany

GATT General agreement on tariffs and trade

GDP Gross domestic Product

GDR German democratic Republic

ILO International Labour organization

IMF International monetary Funds

ISIC International Standard Classification of all Economic activities

LET Ley del Estatuto de los Trabajadores

LO Swedish trade Union confederation

LOLS Ley Orgnica de Libertad sindical

MAC Unidades de Mediacirbitraje y Conciliacin

OECD Organization for Economic cooperation and development

OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries

OSE Organizaci Sindical Espaola

RCO Council of central Business organizations

SAF Confederation of swedish Employers

SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei deutschlands

SER Sociaal Economische Raad

STAR Stichting van de arbeid

UGT Unin General de Trabajadores

UK United Kingdom

US United states

VHP Union of White collar and senior staff associations

VNO Federation of dutch industry

After the 1970s, all Western European countries moved, at some point, from a period of prosperity and full employment to one shaped by stagnation and a crisis in employment. This is reflected in the academic debate insofar as the idea of a standard career with lower, middle, or higher educational qualifications, the corresponding professional career and pension dependent on the occupational position is now being treated as a thing of the past. It is more common that educational and professional careers are characterized by breaks and gaps; this means many more individuals experience social decline and dclassement today than a quarter of a century ago. In order to come to terms with these developments, since the 1990s, the term social exclusion has come to be very widely used by politicians, policy makers, practitioners and academics. Although various conceptions of social exclusion were being developed as early as the 1960s and 1970s, recent years have witnessed an upsurge in the publication of a wide range of books and articles on the topic. Arguably, the growth in popularity of the term delineates attempts to understand and interpret new patterns of social division, particularly in relation to changing patterns in employment and unemployment, modifications in welfare provision, changing patterns in demographic mobility, both nationally and internationally, and changing definitions of eligibility for a variety of civil rights and duties.