Social Quality: A Vision for Europe

This volume represents the outcome of two years of intensive debate about the future of Europe. It aims to provide the European Union with a vision: one that will unite all of its citizens and help to create the democratic legitimacy that the EU currently lacks. It builds on the first book on social quality, "The Social Quality of Europe", which introduced the concept. The book develops three crucial elements of social quality: the theoretical validity of the concept, its practical application, and its identity or "genetic code". It establishes an independent identity for social quality, with a unique focus on the quality of the social, which enables it to act as the rationale for economic, social, and cultural policies and, therefore, an escape route from the dominance of narrow economic thinking in policy making. This book is intended for anyone interested in the future of Europe: policy makers, scientists, NGOs, and students of social policy, law, economics, sociology, and political science.