Introduction

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Although of course 'workfare' had existed in the USA under different forms throughout the 1970s. Jean-Claude Barbier is directeur de recherche (CHRS, Sociology) at the Centre d'etudes de I'emploi (CEE, Noisy le Grand, France). He works on the international comparison of social policies, social protection systems and, particularly employment policies. He also currently studies the European Employment startegy, from the point of view of dissemination of ideas. He also does research on the epistermological and methodlogical stakes of the international comparative posture. Wolfgang Ludwig-Mayerhofer is Professor of Sociolofy – Empirical Research Method at the University of Siegen, Germany. His main areas of research are inequality, poverty and unemployment, sociology of the family and Sociology of (criminal) law. Among his recent books are Die Armut der Gesellschaft (ed., with Eva Barlösius, 2001), Soziale Ungleichheit, Kriminaliskerun (ed., 2000) and Soziologie des Sozialstaats (ed., with Jutta Allmendinger, 2000). Wolfgang Ludwig-Mayerhofer, University of Siegen, FB 1 – Soziologie, 57068 Siegen, Germany. E-mail: ludwig-mayerhofer@soziologie.uni-siegen.de The authors have been members of the unemployment group of the Cost A 13 network, under the coordination of Jørgen Goul Andersen (University of Aalborg). The Cost A 13 network was funded by the European Commission. The selection of countries surveyed has obviously been influenced by the composition of the group. Even though the papers for this special issue emerged from this common background of several years of discussing labour market policies, all authors of course are individually responsible for the content of their papers. In the process of preparation of this special issue, each paper was subject to the usual procedures of independent review by two anonymous experts. We wish to express our gratitude towards these colleagues whose help was of tremendous value in improving substance and form of the papers collected here. The very notion of 'social citizenship' is not explored in-depth here from a comparative perspective, it is rather taken as a broad synonym for social rights, entitlements and political participation. No matter under which of Pierson's (2001) categories (re-commodification, cost-containment and recalibration) they be classified. An excellent example of 'functional universalism' is provided by Gilbert's recent book (Citation2002: 15), where after having commented upon the intrinsic variety of welfare systems and the traditionally used 'clusters', he eventually concludes that all systems are converging towards the same point where the UK and the USA have already arrived. For a distinction between convergences of rules, procedures, and convergence of the substantive outcomes brought by the on-going changes, see Börzel and Risse (Citation2000). Particularly domiciliary care for the elderly or childcare cannot be seen only as employment opportunities.