The object of this investigation by Antonio Antón, Professor of Sociology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, is the process of restructuring the welfare state and the impact of the current economic crisis: the trends of European welfare states and the problems and conflicts of, and options for, social reform; the various theories and debates, the process of socioeconomic modernization in Spain and the relationship between the state, the market and society; the unemployment crisis and socio-integration policies, the reform of the pension system and the state of education and educational policies.