Social Class in Europe

“If you are interested in the future of socioeconomic inequality, class structure and political mobilization in Europe, you should read this book. Cédric Hugrée, Etienne Penissat and Alexis Spire develop an innovative and powerful empirical-quantivative and conceptual-analytical framework in order to offer a transnational perspective on social class in Europe. I very much hope that this work will be followed by sociologists, economists and social scientists and of all stripes and others. A must-read!”
—Thomas Piketty

“Bringing the social theories of Pierre Bourdieu to bear on a trove of survey data, Social Class in Europe draws a bold and bright map of class structure, division and condition across the continent. It demonstrates how European unification has splintered the lower classes while solidifying the domination of the economic and cultural bourgeoisie. By documenting social polarization both within cities and countries as well as across regions (North/South, East/West), it provides an essential key to understand the class struggles and political strife roiling Europe in the 21st century.”
—Loïc Wacquant, author of Urban Outcasts: A Comparative sociology of Advanced Marginality and Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity.

“A highly sophisticated and original attempt to combine a class analysis of Europe with a political critique of the institutions of the European Union. An important step forward for the left developing a European strategy.”
—Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne