ABSTRACT
The restructuring of working life, unemployment and labour market marginalisation are among the most important social issues on the agenda in Western Europe. The arguments developed by U. Beck and Z. Bauman seem to have been implicitly constructed in relation to the Fordist model of work and employment relations. More flexible employment patterns may indeed be an advantage for a lot of people who can create a more coherent everyday life by a pleasant combination of family and working life. Full employment is de-prioritized in favour of competitiveness, and redistributive welfare rights take second place to a productivist re-ordering of social policy and other welfare policies. As the Fordist model of employment changed, so employment and work themselves were effectively downgraded as a framework for analyses and causal explanations. The type and content of work have changed significantly with the increasing importance of private and public service industries as vast growing employment areas.
