Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on policies and problems in Britain and France. It examines the idea of flexibility in historical terms taking in the work of Adam Smith, Malthus and Ricardo. The book concerns the relationship between labour market flexibility and deregulation on the one hand and welfare state retrenchment on the other. The book also focuses on the question of economic security and how it can be maintained or created in circumstances of employment uncertainty that is the product of flexible labour markets. It also examines the complex relation between the insecurity induced by flexibility, the self-respect of those who might be affected, and the conditions for social justice in society. The creation of an insecure workforce through employment flexibility is inimical, says Middleton, to the basic requirements of social justice.