Occupational Welfare in Europe: an analytical and methodological introduction

Following this introduction, section one provides conceptual clarification and a review of the key terms used in the literature to refer to welfare policies provided by social partners. Concept clarification is of particular importance in the case of Occupational Welfare, as contemporary literature would seem to be the victim of definitional problems. Section two illustrates the three main reasons for looking at Occupational Welfare in greater depth. As mentioned above, we provide evidence of the key role of Occupational Welfare schemes, in relation to welfare and industrial relations institutions. Section three summarises the methodological choices adopted in the book to investigate Occupational Welfare in Europe. We refer to country case selection, the policy areas at the core of the analysis and the main sources of information used in the country chapters. Section four concludes with a presentation of how the book is structured.