Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999, 404pp.
In this major book, the culmination of several years of research, Guy Standing, co-chairman of BIEN and senior economist with the International Labour Office provides an overview of global labour market trends and the accompanying shifts in social policy towards greater selectivity, privatisation and complexity. He shows how social democrats and other reformers have embraced the “new paternalism” in moving towards workfare and its “Third Way” variants. The book concludes by suggesting that the challenge for the next decade will be to form the economy by means of new forms of redistribution. Combining real freedom for all citizens and work flexibility will require moving towards basic economic security, through a citizenship income of some kind, economic democracy and a more effective voice in the regulation of labour and social relationships.
(Author’s address: ILO, CH-1211 Geneva. Tel/Fax: 41-22-774 2239, GuyStanding@compuserve.com. BIEN members can obtain copies at a special discount price (£10 sterling) via BIEN’s secretariat or directly from this address.)