Summaries
Summaries
Work, class and social inequality. New variati ons on an old theme
Jacques J. van Hoof
Is the concept of class still to be considered as a useful concept for the analysis of social inequali ty? Many sociologists who work within a frame work of postindustrialization or postmodemiza- tion argue against it. They stress that social clas ses are being undermined by the process of indi vidualization and are being replaced by a plurali ty of lifestyles which become focal points of identification for competing status groups. In this article it is argued that this view rests on an overoptimistic view of the development of the welfare state and the openness of its stratification system. It does not take sufficiently into account recent developments on the labour market such as the proliferation of labour market risks, the in crease of income differentials and persisting internal and external barriers to upward mobility. The author endorses the view of Goldthorpe and Marshall that class analysis has a promising future and offers some recent illustrations of the influence of class on lifechances and lifestyles. It is concluded that although the direct effects of class on behaviour (by means of class-centered values, ideas an identities) might be decreasing, class still influences to an important degree the distribution of resources and the opportunity structure.
Young unemployed looking for a job. The effects of the evaluation of unemployment on job-searching behavior and finding a job T. Taris, J. Heesink en J. Feij
The present paper explores how job-searching behavior (such as number of applications, number
of different search strategies used, and width of applying) is being influenced by the intention to search, the subjective evaluation of being unem ployed, the expected gains of employment, and other variables such as age, duration of unem ployment and perception of the subjects’ chances on the labor market. It is argued that unemployed who are dissatisfied with regard to being unem ployed are likely to stress the gains of being employed, while unemployed who are relatively satisfied will evaluate employment rather negati vely. The expected gains of employment in com parison to unemployment affects the evaluation of the situation of unemployment, which in turn affects the intention to look for a job and the job searching behavior. The model is tested and cross-validated using a sample of 232 young unemployed by means of covariance structure modeling and logit-analysis. The results largely confirm the hypotheses; however, probably the most important finding is that none of the ex planatory variables affects the chances of having found a job after two years after the first inter view, a result that may have considerable policy implications.
Regional Labour Market Information in Flan ders
H. Dejonckheere
According to the latest reports Belgian statistics are among the worst statistics of Western Europe. This is also reflected in the quality of the regio nal labour statistics. The information for these statistics is supplied by the administrations of social security. Their logic makes it hard to inter- pretate these figures and as a consequence diffi cult to use them for scientific purposes. Neverthe less some positive evolutions are noticeable on
Summaries
the side of the scientific world, the (structure of the) Social Security, the National Institute of Statistics and the Flemish authority.
Eastern Europe: Vocational education and training in transition. Modernization or re form?
Peter Grootings
The countries of Central and Eastern Europe are faced with the task of reforming their Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems. This contribution analyses the reform initiatives under discussion in Poland, Hungary and the Czech and Slovak Republics with respect to initial vocatio nal education for youth and looks at the role that foreign assistance and international cooperation play. It appears that there exists a remarkable degree of continuity in educational ‘reform’ dis cussions since the 1960s until the present day, and that as a result there is more modernization than systemic reform. This development is rein forced by international assistance and cooperation which are themselves - in theory - based on ab stract notions of systemic change but - in prac tice - guided by the transfer of specific national experiences.
However, it will be of utmost importance to relate modernization to a structural reform strate gy which would allow all actors involved to learn how best to cope with the new situation. Only this will guarantee that critical system characteris tics and traditional patterns of behaviour will change. Vocational education and training would have to be transformed in such a way that it not only is able to bridge the pedagogical gaps with Western Europe but also in order to contribute in the long run to the social and economic develop ment of the countries. The changes presently going on in West European VET systems are relevant to take into account in this respect. But then, perhaps Western Europe may learn as much for itself as it may be able to teach the others.
From central consultations towards decentrali zed negotiations. Union members about the principles and outcomes of the changing la bour relations in the Dutch municipalities P. Kerkhof en P.G. Klandermans
In the Dutch public sector employers and unions have implemented a system of collective bargai ning much like the system in the private sector. The government will no longer be able to change the labour conditions unilaterally. Moreover the system has been decentralised, enabling the diffe rent government sectors to establish more specific labour conditions.
Using data from a survey among members of a union of municipal officials, the authors conclude that members as well as lay-officials lack know ledge about the changes and that they, although they support the principles of bilateral and decen tralized bargaining, they reject its consequences: different labour conditions for different groups of civil servants. Furthermore the data show that lay-officials lack some of the skills necessary to function adequately in the new system of collecti ve bargaining.
Towards a social partnership of elderly and social welfare recipients
R. van Berkel
In industrial relations policies as well as in stu dies of industrial relations, the position of social security claimants (elderly and disabled people, the unemployed and social welfare recipients) is largely neglected. Dutch interest groups of social security claimants not affiliated to the trade union movement, argue for a ‘social partnership’ for claimants in socio-economic policies. In the form of ‘client participation’, a modest form of social partnership has already been developed by these interest groups, almost exclusively targeting the administration of social security arrangements. In this article, an overview of these forms of client participation is presented. Furthermore, the article discusses the prospects of a social partnership for social security claimants. It is argued, that the relationship between the trade union movement and claimants’ interest groups not affiliated to the trade unions, is of vital importance for the future of claimants’ participation in socioeconomic policies.
