Book review: Social Inequality
| Date | 01 March 2020 |
| Published date | 01 March 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1388262720909205 |
| Author | María Dalli |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
The book offers an overarching understanding of the methodological development of sociology
of work in key European countries, ranging from Western European countries, that have been the
leading ‘pioneers’ in this area with strong democratic traditions and established orders, to Southern
European countries, that are slowly, but nonetheless steadily, catching up with the western models
of research development. The Nordic countries, on the other hand, successfully created a mixed
approach to sociological research focusing on their internal requirements, while the Central and
Eastern European countries, which only recently reintegrated into the European research discourse,
are still trying to catch up with the other European Member States.
With a transforming world order, the sociology of work is also changing, and it is important for
scholars to understand the areas that need to be addressed by further research such as the rise of
unmanned labour forces, the demographic crisis and role of migration in labour forces, which are
some of the most important topics that need further research.
This book is especially useful for scholars and students interested in the field of subaltern
sociological studies, mainly in the labour process and its development, as it establishes a broader
linkage between labour and society and provides possible future scenarios research. Anyone
interested in obtaining an in-depth knowledge of theoretical and empirical developments in socio-
logical work processes, especially in Europe, will find fruitful reading in this handbook, while
those associated with policymaking will get a broad overview of the topic.
Reference
Durkheim, Emile (1960), The Division of Labour in Society, George Simpson (Trans.), The Free
Press of Glencoe, Illinois.
Author biography
Shikha Gautam is a PhD candidate at the Centre for European Studies, School of International
Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her research interests include the sociology of labour,
work sociology, migration, religion and identity. E-mail: gautamshikha88@gmail.com
Louise Warwick-Booth, Social Inequality, 2nd edition, 2019, SAGE Publishing, U.K., 338 pages,
ISBN 978-1-5264-0956-0 (hardback).
Reviewed by: Mar´
ıa Dalli, University of Valencia, Spain.
DOI: 10.1177/1388262720909205
According to the World Health Organisation, at least one in ten individuals lacks access to safe and
clean water (WHO 2015). However, poverty is not distributed equally as half of the extremely poor
live in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank 2016). Poverty does not affect all groups in the same way
either but is strongly influenced by other social factors such as age as, for example, more than half
of the poor are less than 18 years old (World Bank 2016). These are only a few of the examples
mentioned in the first chapter of Social Inequality, which illustrate the contemporary relevance of
the topic and justify the publication of the second edition of this book, published in 2019 by Louise
98 European Journal of Social Security 22(1)
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