Social Justice In Twentieth Century Europe

"Social justice has returned to the heart of political debate in present-day Europe. Using a transnational approach, this book provides the first historical account of the evolution of social justice across Europe during the twentieth century, and explores the divergent ways different groups have understood and sought to achieve social justice"--

Social justice has returned to the heart of political debate in present-day Europe. But what does it mean in different national histories and political regimes, and how has this changed over time? This book provides the first historical account of the evolution of notions of social justice across Europe since the late nineteenth century. Written by an international team of leading historians, the book analyses the often-divergent ways in which political movements, state institutions, intellectual groups, and social organisations have understood and sought to achieve social justice. Conceived as an emphatically European analysis covering both the eastern and western halves of the continent, Social Justice in Twentieth-Century Europe demonstrates that no political movement ever held exclusive ownership of the meaning of social justice. Conversely, its definition has always been strongly contested, between those who would define it in terms of equality of conditions, or of opportunity; the security provided by state authority, or the freedom of personal initiative; the individual rights of a liberal order, or the social solidarities of class, nation, confession, or Volk.

A Social History of Twentieth-Century Europe offers a systematic overview on major aspects of social life, including population, family and households, social inequalities and mobility, the welfare state, work, consumption and leisure, social cleavages in politics, urbanization as well as education, religion and culture. It also addresses major debates and diverging interpretations of historical and social research regarding the history of European societies in the past one hundred years. Organized in ten thematic chapters, this book takes an interdisciplinary approach, making use of the methods and results of not only history, but also sociology, demography, economics and political science. Béla Tomka presents both the diversity and the commonalities of European societies looking not just to Western European countries, but Eastern, Central and Southern European countries as well. A perfect introduction for all students of European history.

A sweeping history of twentieth-century Europe that examines its unprecedented destruction—and abiding promise A sweeping history of twentieth-century Europe, Out of Ashes tells the story of an era of unparalleled violence and barbarity yet also of humanity, prosperity, and promise. Konrad Jarausch describes how the European nations emerged from the nineteenth century with high hopes for continued material progress and proud of their imperial command over the globe, only to become embroiled in the bloodshed of World War I, which brought an end to their optimism and gave rise to competing democratic, communist, and fascist ideologies. He shows how the 1920s witnessed renewed hope and a flourishing of modernist art and literature, but how the decade ended in economic collapse and gave rise to a second, more devastating world war and genocide on an unprecedented scale. Jarausch further explores how Western Europe surprisingly recovered due to American help and political integration. Finally, he examines how the Cold War pushed the divided continent to the brink of nuclear annihilation, and how the unforeseen triumph of liberal capitalism came to be threatened by Islamic fundamentalism, global economic crisis, and an uncertain future. A gripping narrative, Out of Ashes explores the paradox of the European encounter with modernity in the twentieth century, shedding new light on why it led to cataclysm, inhumanity, and self-destruction, but also social justice, democracy, and peace.

This work sees the 20th century as a long century, and focuses on the crucial political events of the century. While it gives attention to the high level of violence in Europe, it weaves into the themes the struggle for hegemony, the establishment of common economic and political institutions, and the advance of science. A bibliographical essay in each chapter allows the readers to expand on issues discussed in the text.

What would a divinely ordained social order look like? Pre&–Vatican II Catholics, from archbishops and theologians to Catholic union workers and laborers on U.S. farms, argued repeatedly about this in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Debating God&’s Economy is a history of American Catholic economic debates taking place during the generation preceding Vatican II. At that time, American society was rife with sociopolitical debates over the relative merits and dangers of Marxism, capitalism, and socialism; labor unions, class consciousness, and economic power were the watchwords of the day. This was a time of immense social change, and, especially in the light of the monumental social and economic upheavals in Russia and Europe in the early twentieth century, Catholics found themselves taking sides. Catholic subcultures across America sought to legitimize&—or, in theological parlance, &“sanctify&”&—diverse economic systems that were, at times, mutually exclusive. While until now the faithful&—both scholars and nonscholars&—have typically spoken of &“the Catholic Social Tradition&” as if it were an established prescription for curing social ills, Prentiss maintains that the tradition is better understood as a debate grounded in a common mythology that provides Catholics with a distinctive vocabulary and touchstone of authority.

The twentieth century witnessed a profound shift in both socialism and social reform. In the early 1900s, social reform seemed to offer a veritable religion of redemption, but by the century's end, while socialism remained a vibrant force in European society, a culture of extreme individualism and consumption all but squeezed the welfare state out of existence. Documenting this historic change, After Progress: European Socialism and American Social Reform in the 20th Century is the first truly comprehensive look at the course of social reform and Western politics after Communism, brilliantly explained by a major social thinker of our time. Norman Birnbaum traces in fascinating detail the forces that have shifted social concern over the course of a century, from the devastation of two world wars, to the post-war golden age of economic growth and democracy, to the ever-increasing dominance of the market. He makes sense of the historical trends that have created a climate in which politicians proclaim the arrival of a new historical epoch but rarely offer solutions to social problems that get beyond cost-benefit analyses. Birnbaum goes one step further and proposes a strategy for bringing the market back into balance with the social needs of the people. He advocates a reconsideration of the notion of work, urges that market forces be brought under political control, and stresses the need for education that teaches the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Both a sweeping historical survey and a sharp-edged commentary on current political posturing, After Progress examines the state of social reform past, present and future.

'Does European regulatory private law offer a genuine model of justice for society? Beyond its initial libertarian focus on economic integration through the market citizen, might it now serve the social inclusion of the vulnerable? In the wake of Hans Micklitz's inspired and relentless pursuit of meaning within the ongoing constitutionalization of private law relationships, this rich collection explores the implications of new, specifically European, forms of access rights, which ensure (horizontally and vertically) enforceable and non-discriminatory opportunity for market participation.' Horatia Muir Watt, Columbia Law School, US This insightful book, with contributions from leading international scholars, examines the European model of social justice in private law that has developed over the 20th century. The first set of articles is devoted to the relationship between corrective, commutative, procedural and social justice, more particularly the role and function of commutative justice in contrast to social justice. The second section brings together scholars who discuss the relationship between constitutional order, the values enshrined in the constitutional order and the impact of constitutional values on private law relations. The third section focuses on the impact of socio-economic developments within the EU and within selected Member States on the proprietary order of the EU, on the role and function of the emerging welfare state and the judiciary, as well as on nation state specific patterns of social justice. The final section tests the hypothesis to what extent patterns of social justice are context related and differ in between labour, consumer and competition law. The Many Concepts of Social Justice in European Private Law will prove to be of great interest to academics of law, as well as to private lawyers and European policymakers.