Introduction

This chapter examines the inclusive power of various types of work. It looks at some of the existing relevant national literature in Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK. Since most of the theoretical complexities involved in the term inclusion have been examined in Chapter Two, we now aim at an operationalisation of the relation between work and inclusion in a wider sense by incorporating the concept of life chances. By introducing the concept of ‘life chances’ we are emphasising the idea of generalised opportunity that comes not just from work, but also from education, collective activities, household sharing, life circle and concomitant age and gender opportunities. By incorporating these variables we intend to draw the outline of a readable picture of the way virtuous and vicious circles evolve in society in general and in people's trajectories in particular.

One striking observation extracted from a large part of sociological research is that it either takes the individual or the household as its points of reference. In fact, most research about employment takes an individual approach. People's life experiences however involve both dimensions. Despite the increasing number of single households in the six countries, the majority of households are still formed by more than one member. Even those who decide to live alone often have and enjoy close family and friendship relationships involving social reciprocity. This means that it is the pool of household resources – mainly income derived from work and property, but also social capital – which provides inclusion and not only the individual status provided by employment. Even if this pool of income and general resources pattern is more evident in the households of countries located in Southern Europe, this pattern is also present within households in the North (Pahl, 1984).

Taking these considerations into account, this chapter includes the two areas of sociological work: one focusing on individual work experience, the other on the household income from different types of work. In line with the former, the Weberian concept of ‘life chances’ in relation to work will guide the analysis of this chapter. Weber used the notion of life chances to indicate opportunities provided by the social structure. Later, Dahrendorf developed the concept as “the sum total of opportunities offered to the individual by his society” (1979, p 28).