In this book Max Koch develops a theoretical model to understand the restructuring of labour markets and social structures of advanced capitalist countries on the basis of the ‘regulation approach’. This approach is then applied to comparative analysis of the national trajectories of the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

Against the background of the classical sociological theories of Marx and Weber, he examines whether there are general links between inclusion, exclusion and capitalism. This is followed by an outline of key concepts of the regulation approach and a discussion of the transition from Fordism to Post-Fordism which leads to empirically verifiable hypotheses about long-term trends in labour markets and social structures in Western Europe. These hypotheses serve as the theoretical basis for the subsequent country studies that are founded on an evaluation of international labour statistics.