Description
Since the advent of the European Union, politicians have increasingly emphasized the notion of a European social model as an alternative to the American form of market capitalism, which is seen as promoting economic growth without regard for solidarity and social progress. As this political discourse has advanced, social scientists and academic policy analysts have raised questions concerning the extent to which the E.U. and U.S. social models exist outside the minds of diplomats and politicians seeking to stitch together a common identity. How much unity is there still within Europe after the Eastern enlargements have considerably increased economic and cultural diversity? To whatever extent one might discern a distinct set of commonalities that represent the core of a European approach, how different are the European characteristics of social, economic, and political life from those of America?Addressing these issues, this book systematically analyzes how much European countries and the United States have in common and how much variation we find within the enlarged European Union in eight central spheres of socio-economic and political life: employment, equality/mobility, educational opportunity, integration of immigrants, democratic functioning, political participation, rights to welfare, and levels of public spending. Drawing on empirical analyses by U.S. and European scholars who represent multi-disciplinary backgrounds, each of these topics is put under scrutiny. The results of this study illuminate points of convergence and divergence as seen from the perspectives of scholars from both sides of the Atlantic.
Table of Contents
IntroductionJens Alber and Neil GilbertPart I: State: Structure and PolicySection I. Democratic FunctioningChapter 1. Democratic Quality in America and EuropeStein RingenChapter 2. Liberalism and Democracy in America TodayJohn SamplesSection II. Political IntegrationChapter 3. The Inequality of Electoral Participation in Europe and America and the Politically Integrative Functions of the Welfare StateJens Alber and Ulrich KohlerChapter 4. Income Inequality and Participation in United States ElectionsMichael P. McDonaldSection III. Patterns of Public ExpenditureChapter 5. Patterns of State Expenditure in Europe and AmericaFrancis G. CastlesChapter 6. Comparative Analyses of Stateness and State Action: What Can We Learn From Patterns of Expenditure?Neil GilbertSection IV. Citizenship and WelfareChapter 7. Concepts and Practices of Social Citizenship in Europe: The Case of Poverty and Income Support for the PoorChiara SaracenoChapter 8. The New American Model of Work-Conditioned Public SupportRebecca M. BlankPart 2: Society: Conditions and OutcomesSection V. The Goal of Full EmploymentChapter 9 Welfare and Employment: a European Dilemma?Werner Eichhorst and Anton HemerijckChapter 10. Fulfilling the Ballyhoo of a Peak Economy? The US Economic ModelRichard B. FreemanSection VI. Inequality and MobilityChapter 11. Egalitarianism versus Economic Dynamics? An Empirical Assessment of the Friedman ConjectureMarkus GanglChapter 12. Are United States Inequality and Mobility Trends in the European Union's Future?Richard V. Burkhauser and Kenneth A. CouchSection VII. Educational OpportunityChapter 13. Education in Europe and the Lisbon BenchmarksJutta Allmendinger, Christian Ebner, and Rita NikolaiChapter 14. The U.S. Educational System: Can it be a Model for Europe?Patricia Maloney and Karl Ulrich MayerSection VIII. Immigrant IntegrationChapter 15. Different Countries, Different Groups, Same Mechanisms? The Structural Assimilation of the Second Generation in Europe (D, F, GB) and the U.S.Frank Kalter and Nadia GranatoChapter 16. Immigration and Nativism in the United States and Europe: Demography and Globalization versus the Nation-StateCharles Hirschman, Anthony Daniel PerezSection IX ConclusionChapter 17. The Epistemology of Comparative Analyses: What Do We Know?Jens Alber, Neil Gilbert
