In this book Max Koch develops a theoretical model to understand the restructuring of labour markets and social structures of advanced capitalist countries on the basis of the 'regulation approach'. This approach is then applied to comparative analysis of the national trajectories of the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

Max Koch is a lecturer in Sociology in the School of Sociology and Applied Social Studies at the University of Ulster, where he is also a member of the European Studies Unit within the Research Institute of the Academy for Irish Cultural Heritages. He received both his PhD in Sociology and his Habilitation (second 'doctoral degree', prerequisite for German professorship) from the Freie Universitÿt Berlin. As a postdoctoral researcher he worked, among other places, in Santiago de Chile, Lund, Madrid, and Rotterdam. He is involved in several research networks both at European and international level. He has published widely (including three single-authored books in German and numerous articles) in the areas of social theory, the sociology of development, labor market regulation, stratification and social exclusion.

Contents: Preface; Introduction; Inclusion, exclusion, and capitalism; The Regulation Approach; New directions in comparative research into labour markets and social structures; The country studies; Summary of empirical results from a comparative perspective; Concluding remarks; References; Index.