This book brings into focus social patterns and policies of the Southern Rim of Europe and asks if there is a special Southern social pattern, comparable to the Nordic, Continental, and Anglo-Saxon Welfare regimes. This question has a new political and socio-economic relevance with the current debt and finance crisis of these countries.

This book was originally published as a special issue of European Societies.

1. Where are the PIGS? Still a Southern European Welfare Regime? Göran Therborn 2. The Southern European Welfare model in the post-industrial order. Still a distinctive cluster? Pau Marí-Klose and Francisco Javier Moreno-Fuentes 3. Youth, family change and welfare arrangements. Is the South still so different? Luis Moreno and Pau Marí-Klose 4. The Myth of Mediterranean Familism. Family values, family structure and public preferences for state intervention in care Ines Calzada and Clem Brooks 5. Bridge over troubled waters. Family, gender and welfare in Portugal in the European context Analia Torres, Bernardo Coelho and Miguel Cabrita 6. Redefining the dynamics of intergenerational family solidarity in Spain Jordi Caïs and Laia Folguera 7. The Southern European migrant-based care model. Long-term care and employment trajectories in Italy and Spain Barbara Da Roit, Amparo González Ferrer and Francisco Javier Moreno-Fuentes 8. Is social protection in Greece at a crossroads? Maria Petmesidou 9. Female employment and the economic crisis. Social change in Northern and Southern Italy Alberta Andreotti, Enzo Mingione and Jonathan Pratschke

Francisco Javier Moreno-Fuentes, Research Fellow at CSIC, holds a BA in Sociology (UCM), a Master in Social Sciences (Juan March Institute, Spain), an MSc in Social Policy (LSE, UK), and a PhD in Political Science (UAM, Spain). His research focuses in the comparative analysis of public policies (immigration, welfare regimes, and urban policies).

Pau Marí-Klose, Assistant Professor at the University of Zaragoza, Spain, holds a BA in History (UB), a Master in Social Sciences (Juan March Institute, Spain), a MA in Sociology (University of Chicago, USA), and a PhD in Sociology (UAM). His main interests lie in the study of inequalities and social policies (child poverty, education, intergenerational relations).