ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to make sense of these developments with regulation theory providing a framework within which to analyze the dynamics of events. It also aims to look at processes of marginalization, and the transformations in the political and social spheres as the “mode of regulation” evolves within a specific regime of accumulation. The chapter begins by outlining regulation theory and explaining the perceived nature of the transition from Fordism to post-Fordism. It seeks to penetrate the facade of a “cosmopolitan” Europe and will concentrate on issues of joblessness, poverty, and homelessness in societies where a growing number of people are experiencing social and economic dislocation and exclusion. A central theme of regulation theory is that capitalist development or capitalist accumulation is not just an economic process but is associated with a wide range of institutions, including not only economic institutions, but also political and ideological ones.
