Europe Enlarged: Handbook Of Education, Labour And Welfare, A

Description:
The expansion of the European Union has put an end to the east-west division of Europe. At the same time it has increased the cultural heterogeneity, social disparities and economic imbalances within the EU - exemplified in the lower living standards and higher unemployment rates in some of the new member states. This important new reference work describes the educational systems, labour markets and welfare production regimes in the ten new Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries. In three comparative chapters, discussing each of these domains in turn, the editors provide a set of theory-driven, comprehensive and informative indicators that allow comparisons and rankings within the new EU member states. Then follow ten country-specific chapters - each written by experts from those countries - on: Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, the Slovac Republic, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.These chapters provide detailed information on each country's educational and training systems, labour market structure and regulations, and its provision of formal and informal welfare support. An important component of each country chapter is the explanation of the historical background, and the specific national conditions for the institutional choices in the transitional years. The handbook provides policy-makers with the tools to assess the institutional changes in CEE countries, and scholars with ways to apply the proposed indicators to their analytic research. It will be a vital resource that no major research library should be without.

Review:
'Europe Enlarged is essential reading for anyone interested in the social transformation of Europe at the turn of the millennium. An understanding of this transformation is of great historical interest and will be of value for the future development of other countries.' Robert Erikson, Professor of Sociology, Swedish Institute for Social Research

Table of Contents:
Introduction ~ Walter Muller; Educational systems of Central and Eastern European countries ~ Irena Kogan; Labour markets of Central and Eastern European countries ~ Michael Gebel; Welfare production regimes in Central and Eastern European countries ~ Clemens Noelke; Hungary ~ Peter Robert and Erzsebet Bukodi; Slovenia ~ Angela Ivaneie; Czech Republic ~ Jana Strakova; Slovak republic ~ Juraj Vantuch and Rastislav Bednarik; Poland ~ Anna Baranowska and Bogdan Mach; Romania ~ Cristina Mocanu; Bulgaria ~ Dobrinka Kostova; Estonia ~ Ellu Saar and Kristina Lindemann; Latvia ~ Ilze Trapenciere; Lithuania ~ Meilute Taljunaite.

Author Biography:
Irena Kogan is Professor of sociology at the University of Bamberg. Her main research interests include social stratification, immigration and inequality in comparative perspective. Michael Gebel is a researcher at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES). His main research interests include labour market sociology, especially the school-to-work transition and the role of atypical employment.Clemens Noelke is a researcher at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES). His main research interests include comparative labour market research, specifically school-to-work transition processes and the labour market consequences of structural change.