Insider-outsider divides in advanced democracies: labour market policies, new inequalities and attitudes

Labour market policies not only protect workers from market fluctuations but can induce new inequalities since they protect some social groups more strongly than others. The chapter demonstrates how labour market policies induce new inequalities such as the divide between labour market insiders and outsiders. The chapter critically discusses the two dominant understandings of insiders and outsiders within the literature, demonstrates how different labour market policies increase insider-outsider divides and presents evidence on the insider-outsider preference divides regarding these policies and the socio-structural composition of the outsider groups. With an eye on both general structural trends and variation between the dominant political economy regimes within the club of rich democracies, the chapter thus not only introduces scholars of labour market policies to the concept of insiders and outsiders but also provides evidence that public policies act as stratifying institutions and highlights the implications for political debates on labour market policies.