ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book examines inequalities within Europe, largely in the old European Union (EU): inequalities of income, occupational class, region, migration, ethnicity and gender. The nature of Europe as a unit becomes clear if it is contrasted with the USA. This comparison highlights one major difference within Europe, namely the very distinctive role of the UK. European inequalities lead to the question of European bonding. In the contemporary world the nation state bonds or integrates the national society: the nation state generates much of the social glue that holds the society together. This involves citizenship and, in Europe, social policies as broadly conceived. European integration is described by researchers as an elite process in the sense that it has been always been driven from the top with the passive tolerance of the population.
