*** ANTOINETTE FAUVE-CHAMOUX (Ed.): Domestic Service and the Formation of European Identity. Understanding the Globalization of Domestic Work, 16th-21st Centuries. Peter Lang (32 Hochfeldstrasse, Postfach 746, CH-3000 Bern 9. e-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.net ).2004, 573 pp. ISBN 3-03910-589-2.
Picking up this book and reading the title, one might be tempted to imagine that it is off the beaten track. What has domestic service, the work of maids, nurses and other servants, got to do with the formation of European identity? As in the past, domestic service today is provided at home, hidden from public scrutiny. It is often under-estimated and denigrated, but is a 'service' like any other service as far as economics is concerned and therefore has its place in the current debate in the EU about services and their liberalisation. Largely hidden from view, domestic service plays a considerable role in the mores of European society and economy, as this book demonstrates.
One might imagine domestic service is a thing of the past, but this collection of more than two dozen essays by historians, sociologists and other specialist researchers (including an ethnologist and an economist) provides historical research placing the subject firmly against the backdrop of modern life, outlining changes over time. The historical analysis focuses on the beginning of the modern epoch, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but also considers a broader sweep of history from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Domestic service may bring to mind images of young girls from Normandy in France from the books of Epinal, working for middle class households in neighbouring towns, or the upstairs-downstairs life of butlers and other staff in Victorian England. But the real picture is far more diverse and surprising. For a long time, for example, domestic service included both domestic work as such and farm or proto-industrial work. Both men and women were domestic servants - between 10% and 20% of the workforce were domestic servants in Europe at one point. It was part of the life of huge numbers of people. It is estimated, for example, that almost two-thirds of the English at the start of the Industrial Revolution were servants at some point in their lives (generally from their late teenage years on into early adulthood) and the story is similar in many other European countries.
Domestic service also raises the question of migration, both in the past and in our time. Sometimes this involved moving to a neighbouring village or local town, and sometimes it was a question of mass international migration, like when the Irish Potato Famine of 1848 forced thousands of Irish people to move to the United States or the UK. Irish men worked on building sites, while the women found work as servants. Nicknamed 'Bridgets', their role was much debated in the United States, but they were ignored in public debate and life in the UK in order to preserve the idea of the master of the house generating all the income while the ladies of the house could indulge in leisure and good taste. In addition to strictly economic considerations regarding the labour market and immigration, domestic service has always been vital part of society despite being virtually invisible. Domestic service impacts on ideas about household organisation and life at home, and also on questions of law and changes in the legal system. (It often has a bearing on fundamental rights since legislators often baulk at legislating about domestic affairs.) It alters perceptions of identity and identification with 'other people'.
There was a huge slump in domestic service in the aftermath of the Second World War, but it has experienced a renaissance with the rise in two-income households where both partners go out to work. This book reveals, however, that domestic service does not tend to come under the scrutiny of legislators or the general public despite its influence on society and the economy and its role in globalisation. Margaret Marat's essay outlines the situation of Filipinos working as maids, nannies, nurses and prostitutes from Amsterdam to Qatar, describing them as bearing witness to the globalisation of the economy. Other essays look at the connection between illegal immigration and the globalisation of domestic service, sexual inequality and the impact (generally not strong enough) of legislation on the human dignity of domestic workers. An article on domestic work in Belgium at the start of the twenty-first century mentions rather than the colours of the Belgian flag (black, yellow and red), the colours 'black, grey and white', referring to working off the cards (the black economy) regular work and the range of 'grey' areas in between …
This very comprehensive book aims to set out in detail the role of servants in the past and the present day in the process of change over the centuries and urbanisation of European society. Its contrasting and very interesting contributions shed light on many unknown aspects of this shadowy world. People tend to know little about domestic service despite the wealth of documentation available (sometimes deliberately ignored), but there is more to the industry and it is more important than one might imagine...
Frederik Ronse
*** RAOUL MARC JENNAR: La proposition de directive Bolkestein. Centre de Recherche et d'Information Socio-Politiques (1A place Quetelet, B-1210 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2110180 - Fax: 2197934 - Internet: http://www.crisp.be ). "Courrier hebdomadaire" series, Nos. 1890-1891. 2005, 68 pp, €12-40. Annual subscription: €235. ISBN 2-87075076-5.
The draft directive on services in the internal market approved by the Prodi Commission on 13 January 2004 has already been subject to much commentary, being subjected to gallons of ink and bile. This weekly CRISP newsletter adds to the volume of ink but not to the volume of bile because the author's aim is to provide an assessment of the issue without committing himself one way or another. Raoul Marc Jennar starts off by pointing out how services are dealt with in European treaties, focussing on public services and the idea of services of general economic interest. He then describes the draft Bolkestein directive and its controversial new idea of only countries of origin regulating service providers' activities in the future, monitoring their business in other Member States. The third part of the study looks at criticism of the draft services directive from trade unions and NGOs in Belgium and, at European level, from the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. The fourth section looks at how the draft has been backed by European Councils, while the fifth section looks at the vital stage of the draft legislation passing through the European Parliament, up until the lodging of a draft report by Social Democrat MEP Evelyne Gebhardt. The study ends with a discussion of the Commission's constant refusal to accept the validity of criticisms of the draft directive on technical grounds. CRISP has announced that it will be publishing a new weekly newsletter looking at the legislative process for the services directive.
(MT)
*** PHILIPPE BRACHET (Ed.): Les services publics: les défendre ? les démocratiser ? Comprendre pour agir. Publisud (15 rue des Cinq-Diamants, F-75013 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45807850 - Fax: 45899415 - E-mail: edipublisud@wanadoo.fr). "L'Observatoire des sociétés" series. 2005, 320 pp, €25. ISBN 2-86600-996-7.
Sociologist and economist by training, Philippe Brachet specialises in public services policy, lecturing on the subject at Université Paris X. The chair of a collective of leaders of French citizen organisations, he has organised reflection into the causes underlying the deep crisis facing public services, focussing on France. To save public services, the book urges ordinary people to distance themselves from two ideologies that have got them trapped in an impasse, namely the extreme free-market ideology that views public services as obstacles to be overcome through deregulation; and the state ideology whereby the same public services are a tool to fight off unbridled capitalism. To find a way out of this sterile debate, the authors urge ordinary people, the users of public services, in France and Europe to consider and experiment with new forms of organisation adapted to meet the changes in expectations and need for public services today. The authors say that the French 'non' vote on the European constitution resulted in a huge slump in the recognition and organisation of services of general interest in the European Union. All the more reason, in his view, for getting the ball rolling again on the public services section of the constitution.
(PBo)
*** JONATHAN ZEITLIN, PHILIPPE POCHET (Eds.): The Open Method of Co-ordination in Action. The European Employment and Social Inclusion Strategies. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.net ). "Work & Society" series, No. 49. 2005, 511 pp. ISBN 90-5201-280-6.
The Open Coordination Method (OCM) has in practice become an original and non-binding EU procedure setting guidelines, objectives, indicators and assessments at EU level for Member States to transpose into national and regional policy at home in a whole series of domains. It can be described as an 'unidentified political object' par excellence, like the European Union itself in Jacque Delors' famous phrase' because the way the relatively new process of OCM works (now set out in a huge variety of other processes) is a generally little known aspect of the workings of the EU. 'The OMC has been criticised as a Trojan horse allowing the EU to encroach illegitimately into policy domains reserved […] to the Member States'. But the OMC 'has been touted as a 'third way' for the EU social policy… which may open up a sustainable path between a fragmented Europe and a European superstate'. The book does not only look at the theory behind OMC and its history: 'It concentrates on one of the OMC's most controversial but least studied dimensions, its operation and influence and national and subnational levels.' Proper understanding of the Open Method of Coordination requires understanding of the European Employment Strategy and how this has developed, which is also explained in the book.
(FRo)
*** MAREK KWIEK: Intellectuals, Power, and Knowledge. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Fax: (41-32) 3761727 - e-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.de ). "Dia - Logos" series, No. 6. 2005, 301 pp. ISBN 3-631-53561-9.
In this book, Marek Kwiek brings together several years of reflection on changes in the status and role of intellectuals and universities in post-modern society. He postulates that the role of European or Western intellectuals, once personified by philosophers, is changing, with values shifting away from knowledge towards literature, having a deep impact on the nature of philosophy and the role of philosophers in society, gradually pushed out of their role as 'social heroes' by 'strong poets', who have made a great comeback after being thrown out of the public arena by Plato twenty-five centuries ago. The author argues that the shrinking of the role of philosophers is not so much due to shifting knowledge and power to others - the way philosophers inherited knowledge and power from priests - so much as from an erosion of knowledge and power. The tragic events of the twentieth century had a huge impact on philosophy. Nourished in the past by the certitude of the centuries of Enlightenment and confident about the infallibility of science, it has become less assertive, less confident and more literary. These changes were first promoted by philosophers like Hegel, Foucault and Deleuze, and the book devotes plenty of space to their thought, but the author also looks beyond them, taking a close interest in current post-modern thinkers like Rorty and Bauman. Universities as public institutions are also undergoing change under the influence of globalisation and privatisation, and this is looked at in the second part of the book, which considers the emergence of a European education system. Marek Kwiek concludes with consideration of the shifting role of intellectuals and universities against the cultural, social and even political and economic backdrop of the modern era.
(FRo)
*** JEAN WIDMER, RENATA CORAY, DUNYA ACKLIN MUJI, ERIK GODEL: Die Schweizer Sprachenvielfalt im öffentlichen Diskurs - La diversité des langues en Suisse dans le débat publique. Eine sozialhistorische Analyse der Transformationen der Sprachenordnung von 1848 bis 2000 - Une analyse socio-historique des transformations de l'ordre constitutionnel des langues de 1848 à 2000. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse 1, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - e-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http: //http://www.peterlang.com ). "Transversales" series, No. 8. 2005, 517 pp. ISBN 3-03910-590-6.
Political conflicts fed by multi-lingualism in Switzerland are analysed in detail in this new book by several authors in German with some sections in French. The book starts by looking at the 1848 Swiss Constitution and how it deals with language, the revision of constitutional articles on languages in 1930 and the 1980s and 1990s, and the root-and-branch reform of the constitution leading to a new constitution in 1999. There is a detailed chronology setting out developments in language policy and politics in Switzerland. A remarkable fact pointed out by the authors is that following a political initiative by the German-speaking 'canton' of Zurich in 1997, various French and Italian speaking observers expressed concern that English being taught as the first foreign language at school might put more and more pressure on the other Swiss national languages in the name of economic liberalism. An interesting read, a diary of the political communication problems of a Middle European country.
(PB)
*** First European Quality of Life Survey: Families, Work and Social Networks. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Wyattville Road, Loughlinstown, IE-Dublin 18. Tel: (353-1) 2043100 - Fax: 2824209 - E-mail: postmaster@eurofound.eu.int - Internet: http://www.eurofound.eu.int ). 2005, 118 pp. ISBN 92-897-0920-0.
Based on 2003 figures from all 25 EU Member States, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, this initial study by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions is divided into four sections. The first figures were published in 2004, but this new volume extends the analysis. The book looks at family, work and social networks, in order to detect patterns of balance between work and private life struck by European men and women during different phases of their lives, depending on their domestic circumstances. It also looks at patterns of social relations and informal solidarity and the links and differences between the various types of support and socialibility.
*** Europe infos. Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community - Catholic European Study and Information Centre (42 rue Stévin, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2350510 - Fax: 2303334 - E-mail: europeinfos@comece.org). October 2005, No. 75, 12 pp. Annual subscription: €27.
The main article in this issue is an interview with Graham Watson MEP, chair of the Democrats and Liberals in Europe, who believes many of the EU's current problems arise from the way political leaders no longer believe their leadership should involve defining or determining a vision of society that people would like to live in. Other subjects include European Commission Vice-President Wallstrom's communication plan for 'an open exchange of information culture', trade between the EU and China, European funding for rural development and the draft directive on the controversial humanitarian issue of turning away illegal immigrants.
*** Revue d'Allemagne et des pays de langue allemande. Société d'Études Allemandes (CNRS -Bâtiment 40, 23 rue du Loess -BP 20. F-67037 Strasbourg Cedex 02. Tel: (33-3) 88107316 - Fax: 88106482 - E-mail: christiane.weeda@misha.u-strasbg.fr). July - September 2005, No. 3, 171 pp. 16 euros. Annual subscription: 56 euros.
From the starting point that despite being open, the culture of France and the culture of Germany have their own characteristics, at times misunderstood and deformed, this French language review of the German speaking world has produced an issue on cultural relations between France and Germany, theory and practice, with articles setting out a conceptual approach to communication between the cultures and articles on the practical aspects of this 'interculturality' in business and cultural life, and in the military (as part of Eurocorps).
*** Documents - Revue des questions allemandes. BILD (50 rue de Laborde, F-75008 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 43879042 - Fax: 42935094 - E-mail: potier@bild-documents.org - Internet: http://www.revuedocuments.com ). September 2005, No 32, 112 pp, €9.15. Annual subscription: €39.
This issue, now drafted in collaboration with sister publication Dokumente, includes a dossier on demographics. Germany is France's leading partner and the demographic situation in one of these two countries has an influence on the other. From the starting point that Germany's birth rate is much lower than France's, the dossier tries to discover what influences demographics in the two countries and points out the potential impact of the declining birth rate and ways of counteracting it, like encouraging the formation of family units. The magazine also looks at other issues, ranging from how to resolve the constitutional crisis to the impact of the recent German elections. Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has written a wonderful obituary of his friend and advisor Joseph Rovan.
Reviews in Brief
***Policy Analysis. Cato Institute. October 2005, Washington. This issue looks at the maritime law treaty (to regulate the use of the high seas to the detriment of the United States, writes the review). ***Libre Cours. Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix de Namur. 2005, Namur, Belgium. This magazine looks at issues of concern to this Belgian university, like teaching and research.