Pensions Imperilled

Original and thorough, Pensions Imperilled provides a myth-busting analysis of pensions provision as a crucial element of British capitalist management, in comparative perspective. Presenting a unique treatment of temporality, and denouncing the inherent contradiction of an intergenerational collective arrangement that is increasingly premised on individualism and (further) financialization, Berry sounds the alarm for a UK pension crisis that has barely begun. A must-read for a multidisciplinary and truly inter-generational understanding of the perennial policy puzzles involving private pensions. * Giselle Datz, Associate Professor of Government and International Affairs, Virginia Tech * Utterly brilliant if very scary in its implicationsDLnot a book to have on your bedside table if you wish to sleep comfortably through the night. Highly original and depressingly persuasive, this is the most detailed and most troubling account we have of the impending pensions crisis. Its warnings need to be heeded. * Colin Hay, Professor of Political Sciences, Sciences Po Paris * In Pensions Imperilled, Craig Berry masterfully dispels the popular myths around population ageing and financial volatility that have legitimized the United Kingdom's far-reaching pension reforms for decades. Instead, Berry directs our attention to the pivotal role of statecraftDLpolicy-makers' use of state power to create a political outcome consistent with their ideological views-as a catalyst behind the ongoing neoliberalization and financialization of the UK pension system. This book is essential reading for anyone alarmed by the rapidly disappearing promise of secure and adequate pensions for today's workforce. * Natascha van der Zwan, Assistant Professor in Public Administration, Leiden University * Why does the UK find itself embroiled in a pension crisis? Pensions Imperilled draws on a wealth of research to show that the standard demographic arguments about ageing fall far short. Instead, Berry shows that changes in the UK's political economy, what is commonly referred to as 'financialization', led to policy changes that have made retirement security more precarious and individualized. Pensions Imperilled is a must read that rightly refocuses our attention onto political economy. * Michael A. Mccarthy, Associate Professor of Sociology, Marquette University *