The Mobilization Of The Unemployed In Europe

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In the face of high unemployment in Europe for the past thirty years, the unemployed have organized themselves and mobilized at levels ranging from the local to the transnational. These contentious movements invite us to revise traditional analyses that conclude that the unemployed are not able to get mobilized.

Through long-term analysis of movements of the unemployed in ten countries (Belgium, Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Switzerland), this work explores why, when, and how the unemployed move from acquiescence to protest. Review: This compilation of country-specific studies provides a wealth of information to help us make sense of the protest movements erupting across Europe.

The book is timely indeed! --Frances Fox Piven, distinguished professor of political science and sociology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York This is an outstanding collection of essays on the relatively neglected topic of political mobilization around unemployment. It takes the standards of scholarship in this area to a new level of empirical detail and theoretical sophistication.

Especially innovative and important is the comparative analysis of unemployed mobilizations across a range of diverse developed nations. The editors are to be congratulated on an excellent volume. The publication is timely during a period of renewed economic crisis that social scientists are only just beginning to analyze.

Chabanet and Faniel's text will be a key reference in understanding the political consequences of economic recession and unemployment for many years to come. --Paul Bagguley, reader in Sociology, University of Leeds