1. The employed labour force in European countries by sector of activity
2. Ability to afford one week’s holiday in Europe
3. A representation of the European social space, based on a number of surveys
4. A typology of the different social classes in Europe
1. Socio-economic groups within the working class in Europe
2. Non-European foreigners among the European working class
3. Unemployment among Europeans
4. Hardness of working conditions in Europe
5. Poverty among European households
6. Socio-economic groups within the middle class in Europe
7. Characteristics of the socio-economic groups comprising the European middle class
9. Reading practices in Europe
10. Socio-economic groups within the dominant class in Europe
12. Intensity of leisure practices in Europe
13. Mastery of foreign languages in Europe
14. Rate of participation in elections to the European Parliament since 1979
15. European socio-economic groups
AT: Austria
BE: Belgium
BG: Bulgaria
CY: Cyprus
CZ: Czech Republic
DE: Germany
DK: Denmark
EE: Estonia
ES: Spain
FI: Finland
FR: France
GR: Greece
HU: Hungary
IE: Ireland
IT: Italy
LT: Lithuania
LU: Luxembourg
LV: Latvia
NL: Netherlands
PL: Poland
PT: Portugal
RO: Romania
SE: Sweden
SK: Slovakia
SL: Slovenia
UK: United Kingdom
EC: European Community
ECB: European Central Bank
EU: European Union
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
IMF: International Monetary Fund
OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
AES: Adult Education Survey
EWCS: European Working Conditions Survey
LFS: Labour Force Survey
EU-SILC: European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions
A first version of this book was published in French, entitled Les classes sociales en Europe (Paris: Agone, 2017). The initial idea came from Cécile Brousse, whose work inspired us a lot. Access to European surveys was first made possible by our participation in the ESEG research group at the Institut national de la SEE. Our three laboratories, CERAPS, IRIS and CRESPPA-CSU, provided us with logistical and financial support for the publication. Our bibliographical research benefited from the suggestions of several colleagues who helped us to better understand social class in different countries: Virgilio Borges Pereira, Bruno Monteiro, Angeliki Drongiti, Jani Erola, Mihaela Hainagiu, Michał Kozłowski, Clemence Ledoux, Thomas Maloutas, Enrique Martin Criado, Pablo Lopez Calle, Harri Melin, Mikael Palme, Andreas Melldahl, Marie Plessz, Spyros Sakellaropoulos and Yiorgos Vassalos. Thanks to these correspondents, we were able to feed our demonstration of qualitative research conducted in different European countries.
Thomas Amossé, Philippe Askenazy, Audrey Mariette, Tristan Poullaouec and Delphine Serre reviewed all or part of the manuscript and offered us valuable suggestions. The remaining imperfections are obviously our sole responsibility.
The entire text was translated by Rachel Gomme, with the exception of chapters 2 and 3, which were translated by Eunice Sanya Pelini.
The European Union has become the subject of intense conflict, as evinced by the ‘no’ votes in the French and Dutch referendums on the constitutional treaty in 2005, the Greek debt crisis of 2010, and the vote for Brexit in June 2016. In every country in Europe, an enduring political split has opened up between supporters and opponents of the European project.1 Supporters take the view that this project represents the best way of ensuring economic progress and business competitiveness through the increase in trade; for opponents, it encourages social dumping and brings down standards of living for the majority. The tensions caused by relocations and competition between workers lead certain groups to demand protection for their national space. In response to these anxieties, journalists and politicians usually adopt a simplistic frame of reference that pits insiders against outsiders, globalisation’s winners against its losers, with the stereotype of the Polish plumber competing with the French, German or British worker. Although the social question lies at the heart of this political conflict, very few recorded data are available on social inequalities between European