Chairs: Robert Erikson (Swedish Institute for Social Research) and Christopher T. Whelan (Sociology, University CollegeDublin)
Conference theme:
In 2011, the ECSR celebrates its 20th anniversary. To commemorate this occasion, we reflected upon the original set of ECSR conferences, funded by the ESF, which addressed the question of whether it was appropriate to think in terms of European Societies or European Society. Issues of Europeanization continue to feature prominently in the literature. In spite of the benefits deriving from the creation of a European Economy and a nascent European society and polity involving the creation of a European wide-market, monetary union and EU enlargement attention has been increasingly focused on identifying winners and losers deriving from such processes. Increasing attention has been focused on the consequences the changing balance between national redistributive policies and supranational regulation of economic, social and employment policies and the integration of national markets. In the context of such debates it is necessary to consider both national and European perspectives conceptualization and measurement of key issues. The ECSR is particularly well equipped to contribute to such debates because its members have been at the forefront of developing comparative and dynamic research in these areas.
Participants where invited to submit papers on a variety of related topics including: inequality, poverty and social exclusion, employment regulation, life-course vulnerabilities, the recalibration of the welfare state, migration and ethnicity, reference group formation and concepts of solidarity and quality of life.
ECSR would like to thank all participants for their highly valuable contribution to the conference!
