This study addresses the transformation of the concept of work between the years 1970 and 2000. The authors remind us of what we now might easily forget: that, not so long ago, the right of an unemployed person to social security benefits and services was not questioned. Over the years, this right has been gradually replaced by a two-way bargain with the state and in the place of this old ""social citizenship"", there has arisen a government-corporate alliance that manages job seekers by contract. The shift from the needs of the person to the demands of business is complete.;The interdisciplinary discussion in the book incorporates debates about civil society, social capital and other germane topics of great concern to scholars, policymakers and administrators in this era of globalization. A deep analysis of the new policy network of social services examines the types of contracts that govern the various parts of the system.
