ABSTRACT
Recent enlargement to the east made the European Union a more diverse social space and brought it into more direct contact with the social and cultural aftermath of communism.
The purpose of this book is to help social scientists, policy makers and other observers cope with the unfamiliarity of this new world by bringing together a collection of informative analyses of key domains of social life in the new member states and candidate countries, viewed in comparison both to each other and to the 'old' EU-15.
The focus is on social conditions, such as social exclusion, poverty and living conditions, work and labour markets, family and housing. But is also offers accounts of the institutional contexts within which these conditions arise. The analyses makes use of a range of data, including a new data source, the European Quality of Life Survey 2003.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |24 pages
Introduction: EU enlargement and quality of life
part I|101 pages
Fertility, families and households
chapter 3|27 pages
Is there a generational cleavage in Europe?
part II|71 pages
Employment and working conditions
chapter 6|13 pages
Working conditions and quality of work
chapter 7|23 pages
Extension through dilution?
part III|77 pages
Material living conditions
part IV|75 pages
Social capital and social cohesion
chapter 14|24 pages
The perception of group conflicts
part V|71 pages
Processes of Europeanisation