Book Review: Leading Social Policy Analysis from the Front. Essays in Honour of Wim Van Oorschot by Tijs Laenen, Bart Meuleman, Adeline Otto, Femke Roosma, Wim Van Lancker
| DOI | 10.1177/13882627211061419 |
| Author | Jörgen Lundälv |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
The final part of the book focuses on cross-border perspectives on Social Law 4.0 across three
chapters. The individual chapters consider in turn the proposed European standards for platform
workers, the future of social-security coordination, and the taxation of platform work. I consider
this part to be very successful, as it reflects recent reflections on more general topics. It is clear
from the chapter texts that platform work and the progressive digitalisation of work will require
many significant changes in the regulation of EU law and in the interpretation of existing EU
law standards relating to social law, as the current coordination regulations are still based on the
idea of stable working arrangements in a fixed physical location. In addition, freedom of movement
of non-standard workers should be taken into account in future modifications of coordination rules.
At the very end of the book, it would have been useful to include at least one more comprehen-
sive chapter with de lege ferenda considerations and visions for the future of how Social Law 4.0
can or should continue to evolve, and how Industry 4.0 should reflect this evolution. Perhaps these
themes can serve as an impetus for further research in the near future. Social law theory would cer-
tainly deserve another similarly excellent work.
In conclusion, Social Law 4.0 can be expected to occupy a very important place in university
libraries and in the collection of indispensable titles for legal practitioners, theorists, and students
not only of law, but also of social policy and sociology.
ORCID iD
Kristina Koldinská https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2121-9007
Tijs Laenen, Bart Meuleman, Adeline Otto, Femke Roosma and Wim Van Lancker (eds) Leading Social Policy
Analysis from the Front. Essays in Honour of Wim van Oorschot, Leuven, Belgium: Centre for Sociological
Research, KU Leuven, 423 pages, 2021, ISBN 9789067842280.
Reviewed by: Jörgen Lundälv ,University of Gothenburg, Sweden
DOI: 10.1177/13882627211061419
Recognised and innovative researchers in various disciplines are sometimes credited with a Liber
Amicorum. The concept refers to a Latin phrase meaning ‘book of friends’. Wim van Oorschot, a
retired Professor of Social Policy at the Centre for Sociological Research at KU Leuven/Belgium,
and one of the leading researchers in the field of social policy, recently received such a Liber
Amicorum entitled Leading Social Policy Analysis from the Front. The book is divided into five
parts: ‘Introduction’(Part I), ‘The academic career of Wim van Oorschot’(Part II), ‘Social policies,
their causes and consequences’(Part III), ‘Popular attitudes towards social policies’(Part IV) and
‘Epilogue’(Part V). A total of 45 researchers and colleagues from different European countries,
including the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and
Germany, have contributed to the book. The authors represent disciplines like social policy,
social work, social psychology, sociology, political science, social security law, social and political
Book Reviews 71
To continue reading
Request your trial