In the wake of the Greek and Irish crises, and at a moment when solidarity between states is hotly debated on a daily basis at EU level, it is important to understand how 'solidarity' can happen at all. The Road to Social Europe reviews the development of political cultural processes since the nineteenth century, showing how social protection and social justice have gradually become interwoven with systems of social protection, or welfare states. It shows how sociological and ethnographic analysis can help in understanding the current and future challenges of European integration that rely unilaterally on functional economics.

Jean-Claude Barbier is CNRS Research Director at Paris1 Panteon-Sorbonne University, France. His research interests include European integration, EU social policy, and employment policies in Europe and the USA.

Part I: Social Protection In Europe: National and/or European? 1. National Social Protection Systems at the Core of State Legitimacy 2. The Nation and Social Protection: Practices and Subjectivities 3. Fifty Years of Social Europe (1957-2007): A Realistic Appraisal Part II: Towards a Sociological Understanding of Cultural Diversity In Europe 4. Cultural Diversity: A Blind Spot? 5. Transcending the Quarrel between Universalism and Culturalism 6. The Ethical Principles Governing Cross-National Comparison Part III: Political Cultures and European Integration 7. The Collective "Imaginary", Language and Politics 8. A New Start for Social Europe: Giving Priority to Languages.