Sociological Endeavor

In this, the twentieth volume in the Transaction series honoring distinguished social scientists of the twentieth century, the life and work of the eminent Swedish sociologist, Hans L. Zetterberg is featured. He has had a long and distinguished career in a number of fields including, sociology, publishing, private business and public policy. For many years he was head of the Swedish Institute for Opinion Research, SIFO, and more recently he has been active in the creation of Sweden''s only private university, the City University of Stockholm.In this volume the focus is on Zetterberg''s activities as a sociologist, and the reader gets an opportunity to become acquainted with the work of one of Sweden''s most prominent sociologists. The contributions cover a period of several decades and include several of Zetterberg''s classical articles as well as anexcerpt from his most famous book, On Theory and Verification in Sociology. Many recent articles can also be found in the volume, and these well testify to the relevance of Hans Zetterberg''s work to contemporary issues.This book is an outstanding sampling of Zetterberg. It is must reading for aspiring sociologists. He provides tools for analyzing distinct national cultures. Zetterberg has shown how one person by combining the roles of scholar, pollster, editor and businessman can integrate insights from each to help us understand modernity.

The welfare state in postwar Western Europe has been extended and intensified in a spectacular manner. Today, "welfare" represents a complex mix of services covering health, education, welfare, the arts, leisure, and social security. Anton C. Zijderveld is of the opinion that Europe''s vast, comprehensive welfare state is becoming leaner and meaner, heading down a more sober path toward decentralization and deregulation, which only, but not merely, secures order for its citizens and shields society''s vulnerable. As the millennium approaches, Zijderveld believes Europe is experiencing a cultural renaissance and a socioeconomic and political reformation in which the market will flourish and civil society will prosper.The Waning of the Welfare State focuses on the transformation of the welfare state in Europe over a four-decade period. Zijderveld employs the democratic triangle theoretical model, in which democracy is viewed as a system in which state, market, and civil society are held in precious balance. If one component supersedes the other two, democracy is endangered. In its 1960s and 1970s heyday, the state took center stage at the expense of the market and civil society; social democracy was the prevailing ideology. In the 1980s the market triumphed, often at the expense of both the state and civil society; this was the decade of liberalism. Today, civil society prevails, albeit at risk of being injurious to state and market. Ideologically, this is the decade of conservatism.Zijderveld sees a future "Americanization" of European social policy producing a fortuitously balanced coalition of social democracy, liberalism, and conservatism; a place where safety and order, prosperity and economic participation, and social participation and meaningful interactions flourish equally. This transformation carries many risks. But it will, in the end, strengthen Europe''s political, economic, and sociocultural stamina. If it also draws the Atlantic p