Change and Conflict in the New Economy evaluates three decades of change in employment and social regulation, questioning the paradigm of Post-Fordism as a stable development within contemporary capitalism. Bringing together leading commentators in the United Kingdom and Spain, it critiques the assumption that there is a new stable, de-centralized regime of employment that is post-bureaucratic and flexible. It focuses on four key areas: the extent to which labour markets and organisational forms have changed; the role of the language and practice of the state as a labour market player and employer in influencing such developments; the changes in terms of working relationships given the context of changing gender, family structures and forms of consumption; the re-shaping both politically and institutionally of labour collectivism. The book argues that the current state of play is unstable and fundamentally fraught with conflict and tension. The political landscape may be changing but the underlying tensions within the new rhetoric and practices of flexibility are as intense as ever. What is more, the book points to ironic developments in the manner in which bureaucracy re-asserts itself.

'This book is a very strong and interesting contribution to the field of employment studies, industrial relations and labour studies...is requried reading for anyone interestd in the subject of employment relations.' - Carlos Jesus Fernández Rodríguez Work, Employment and Society

List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Notes on the Contributors
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
Introduction: Employment Relations in a Changing Society; M.Martinez Lucio
Fordism and the Genesis of the Post-Fordist Society: Assessing the Post-Fordist Paradigm; L.E.Alonso
PART 2: THE LABOUR MARKET
Flexible Enterprises: An Analysis of their Institutional Standing; J.La Sierra
The Degradation of Employment in Spain: From the 'Salaried' Employment Norm to the 'Entrepreneurial' Employment Norm; C.Prieto
The Myth of Decentralisation and the New Labour Market; C.Forde & R.MacKenzie
PART 3: THE STATE
Are We Moving Towards a Post-Fordist State? Full Employment of the European Workforce; D.Albarracín
Employability and the 'Flexible Economy': Some Considerations on the Politics and Contradictions of the European Employment Strategy; I.Greenwood & M.Stuart
Post-Fordism and Organisational Change within the State Administration; I.Kirkpatrick
PART4: LABOUR AND SOCIETY
Feminization and Inequality in the New Regime of Work: From Exclusion by Design to Exclusion by Default; J.Gardiner & M.Martinez Lucio
A Post-Fordist Consumption Norm? Social Fragmentation, Individualization and New Inequalities; L.E.Alonso
The Feminizationof Work, Changes in Family Structure and the Transformation of the Welfare State in the Post-Fordist Environment; G.Meil Landwerlin
Individualism and Collectivism in the Sociology of the Collective Worker; P.Stewart
Trade Unionism and the Realities of Change: Reframing the Language of Change; M.Martinez Lucio
Flexible Rigidities: A Model for Social Europe?; R.Hyman
Index

LUIS ENRIQUE ALONSO is a Professor of Sociology at the University Autonoma of Madrid and has worked on a variety of areas related to consumption, employment and regulation. He has also written on sociological theory including the work of Bordieu, Rifkin at el.

MIGUEL MARTINEZ LUCIO is Professor at the university of Bradford, UK. He works as a political sociologist within the area of employment and management. He has written on industrial relations, employment studies and economic regulation. The focus of his work is the transformation of regulation within employment relations.