The causes of the Asian economic crisis have been the subject of fierce debates among economists, yet little is known about the impact on employment and wellbeing. In Indonesia, the worst affected country, the malaise turned into a political and societal upheaval which brought an end to the New Order regime. Based on anthropological fieldwork in two villages along the coast of West Java, the monograph discusses the repercussions for work and welfare in the rural hinterland.

Gunawan Wiradi graduated as a rural sociologist from the Institut Pertanian Bogor and Universiti Malaysia in Penang. He has been active for many years as a senior researcher in Survey Agro-Ekonomi and as a prominent consultant for various non government agencies. His latest book Reforma agraria: Perjalanan yang belum berakhir (2000) discusses the urgent need for land distribution in Indonesia.
Jan Breman, emeritus Professor of sociology at the Amsterdam School of Social Science Research, has a long-standing research record on the historical and contemporary change in South and Southeast Asia. His publications on Indonesia include: Java: Population growth and demographic structure (1963); The village on Java and the early colonial state (1980); Taming the coolie beast: Plantation society and the colonial order in Southeast-Asia (1989).