The progress of markets erodes traditional relations of social solidarity that are essential for the stability and performance of societies. As markets advance, pressures build on the state to replace informal social obligations with formal ones. Regulation may fail, however, which tends to give...

Flexible markets require flexible societies; humans, however, need a stable social order. According to received wisdom, when capitalist development razes traditional social structures, society fights back, and welfare state policies organize new stability to replace the old. More market produces...

The dissolution of the standard employment relationship since the 1970s has been paralleled by a destabilization of family relations. The paper, which is a slightly revised version of a plenary lecture at the 2008 Meeting of the German Sociological Association, discusses possible connections...

Intro -- Editorische Notiz -- Tariq Ali - Die Geburtsstunde der extremen Mitte -- Tariq Ali - Euroland in Schwierigkeiten -- Wolfgang Streeck - Nichts sehen, nichts hören, nichts sagen: Die extreme Mitte als Klassenbasis des gescheiterten Konsolidierungsstaats -- Heiner Flassbeck - Europa und...