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Beyond Coal and Steel

A Social History of Western Europe after the Boom

Lutz Raphael Kate Tranter

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English
Polity Press
04 March 2024
In the 1970s, the economic and social foundations of Western Europe underwent an unprecedented transformation. Old industries like coal and steel disappeared, millions of people lost their jobs and formerly flourishing towns and cities went into decline.  Traditional political agendas gave way to new social problems and concerns.  What happened to industrial citizens – their workplaces, their careers and their homes? How did social rights and political participation of workers change when markets became global, management lean and financial capital dominant? How did companies change and how were personal skills and work tasks reinvented  under the impact of new technologies? How did workers – men and women – live through these decades of uncertainty and upheaval?    

Lutz Raphael reconstructs the highly variegated story of deindustrialization in Western Europe with a particular focus on Britain, France and West Germany. Extending over three decades, this transformation was accompanied by significant rises in productivity and consumerism, but it also came at a heavy cost, ushering in many low-income jobs, growing inequality and a crisis of democratic representation. Its legacy is everywhere around us today – it is the transformation that has shaped our world.

By:  
Translated by:  
Imprint:   Polity Press
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 229mm,  Width: 152mm,  Spine: 33mm
Weight:   635g
ISBN:   9781509554386
ISBN 10:   1509554386
Pages:   410
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Lutz Raphael is Professor of Contemporary History at Trier University.

Reviews for Beyond Coal and Steel: A Social History of Western Europe after the Boom

‘This is an outstanding study of a major topical theme: the changes that have taken place in the structure, organization  and orientation of the working class during the process of deindustrialization that has been underway since the 1960s. No one has analysed this transformation with this degree of thoroughness before, and, as Raphael shows, we are still living with its consequences. This is certainly an important book, and it has no rivals at the level of serious scholarship.’ -Colin Crouch, University of Warwick ‘This is comparative social history of deindustrialization in Western Europe at its best. Lutz Raphael has written an entirely convincing book that analyses transformations in the world of work, changes in the understanding of social classes and the impact of labour conflicts. Anyone wanting to know about changing social structures, life-course  narratives of workers, unemployment, factory life, working-class neighbourhoods and de-skilling as well as re-skilling should read this book.’ -Stefan Berger, Ruhr-Universität Bochum   ‘This is an outstanding study of a major topical theme: the changes that have taken place in the structure, organization[JD1]  and orientation of the working class during the process of deindustrialization that has been underway since the 1960s. No one has analysed this transformation with this degree of thoroughness before, and, as Raphael shows, we are still living with its consequences. This is certainly an important book, and it has no rivals at the level of serious scholarship.’ Colin Crouch, University of Warwick   ‘This is comparative social history of deindustrialization in Western Europe at its best. Lutz Raphael has written an entirely convincing book that analyses transformations in the world of work, changes in the understanding of social classes and the impact of labour conflicts. Anyone wanting to know about changing social structures, life-course [JD2] narratives of workers, unemployment, factory life, working-class neighbourhoods and de-skilling as well as re-skilling should read this book.’ Stefan Berger, Ruhr-Universität Bochum  [JD1]NB: -ize spelling  [JD2]Hyphenated in text when adjectival


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