Stefan Svallfors is Professor of Sociology at Umeå University, Sweden. He is the author of The Moral Economy of Class (Stanford, 2006), and editor of The Political Sociology of the Welfare State (Stanford, 2007) and Analyzing Inequality (Stanford, 2007).

"Contested Welfare States truly embodies the state-of-the-art on the topic of public attitudes towards social protection and redistribution. It delivers fresh perspective on a distinctive set of questions concerning welfare debates and will be of broad interest and use."— Jonas Pontusson, Princeton University "With the rise of immigration and the impact of ethnic heterogeneity on attitudes towards the welfare state, along with reactions against immigration by indigenous citizens, this new book is both timely and welcome. Using systematic analysis and high quality, cross-nationally comparable evidence it provides a clearly focused look at the various angles adopted in debates about welfare in recent decades and an informed critique of simple self-interest."—Geoffrey Evans, Nuffield College, Oxford University