Markets and Moral Regulation: Cultural Change in the European Union

by Paulette Kurzer

Overview

What effect is market integration having on national cultures and social policies? Paulette Kurzer examines Finnish and Swedish alcohol policy, Dutch drug decriminalization policy, and the Irish ban on abortion. She finds that regional integration is leading to adjustments that bring abortion, drug policy, and restrictive drinking measures into closer alignment within the EU. Kurzer's conclusion is that shifts in values and attitudes, affected in part by EU market integration, are bringing about a gradual convergence in morality norms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521802895
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/02/2001
Series:	Themes in European Governance
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.63(d)
Lexile:	1610L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

1. Markets versus morality; 2. Binge drinking: the evolution of Finnish alcohol policy; 3. Our greatest problem: the evolution of Swedish alcohol policy; 4. Nordic morality meets the European union; 5. Permissive pragmaticism: Dutch drug policy; 6. Harm reduction meets the EU: from public health to public order; 7. Irish sexual morality versus European sexual permissiveness; 8. The emergence of a European morality?

Editorial Reviews

"This well-written book is carefully documented and richly informative..." American Journal of Sociology

"[This book] is an excellent example of how comparative public policy can be done. One of the great strengths of Kurzer's well-written and well-researched book is that she draws subtle conclusions that go no further than what the evidence bears.... Comparative public policy specialists who focus on moral regulation—and especially drug policy—need to pay attention to this book." Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions

"An important contribution to the emerging literature on Europeanization..." Perspectives on Politics

"Anyone interested in alcohol, drugs, abortion, morality, cultural change, and Europe should read this book." Foreign Affairs

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