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Goran Therborn, Why Some People Are More Unemployed than Others.
London: Verso, 1986, 181 pp., $8.95 US paper.
This is a fine book, the kind thatrevives faithin the importanceof soundsociological
researchandanalysis.Therbor combinestheprofoundsense of problemandcompara-
tive methodof theclassicalsociologistswithmoder statisticaltechniquesto exploreone
of the most importantand perplexingsocial problemsof our time, the rising level of
unemploymentin mostindustrialnations.Whilemakingit quiteclearwherehis political
preferenceslie (withsocialdemocracy),Therbomis carefulnotto allowtheseto biashis
findings,makingthis a model studyin "objective"sociologyin the bestmeaningof that
term.
Therbomsets out to exploreandexplainwhy it is thatsome OECDcountrieshave
managedto maintainlow unemploymentrates(less than5 percent)duringrecentyears,
while other countrieshave had their rates soar to levels not seen since the Great
Depression.Why do some countriesnow sufferfromhigh (morethan10 percent)and
apparentlyintractableunemploymentlevels, while othershavemanagedto keep unem-
ploymentlow evenduringtherecessionof theearly1980s?Thisis theimportantquestion
thatTherbor poses, andhe is convincingin his answers.
Thebookis as importantforthenumerousexplanations(tentativehypotheses)thatthe
authorexaminesmeticulouslyandthenrejectsas fortheexplanationshe accepts.Despite
political,economistic,andpopularmisconceptionsto thecontrary,unemploymentrates
in OECDcountriescannotbe explainedby any of the following:an inevitabletrendof
advancedcapitalism;therateof inflation;theshareof publicspendingin acountry'sgross
national product;labour costs; or the level of unemploymentcompensation.Most
interestingly,the nationalrateof unemploymentdoes not seem to be muchaffectedby
thepoliticalphilosophyof thepartyin power.Highunemploymentis foundundersocial
democraticgovernmentsin Belgiumandthe Netherlandsas well as underconservative
governmentsin Canadaand the United Kingdom.Of the five low unemployment
countries,two (SwedenandNorway)havehadmainlysocial democraticgovernments,
two (SwitzerlandandJapan)have been overtlycapitalistandmarket-oriented andthe
fifth (Austria)representssomethingof a mixedcase.
What, then, is the secret to low unemployment?Accordingto Therborn'shighly
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