The conference “Social Boundaries of Work. Critical Labour Studies in the Times of a Polycrisis”
The time has come to summarise the conference “Social Boundaries of Work. Critical Labour Studies in the Times of a Polycrisis,” held at the Institute of Sociology from 16 to 18 October 2024.
More than 140 people, representing 28 foreign scientific units and 11 Polish ones, as well as more than a dozen trade union organizations, companies and representatives of public institutions, including NSZZ Solidarność, OPZZ Konfederacja Pracy, OZZ Inicjatywa pracownicza, Nomada, Pyszne.pl, UM Wroclaw, Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, Wrocław Center for Social Development, Wroclaw District Labour Office and others, gathered during the 3-day session.
Our guests and foreign visitors represented universities from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, South Africa, Slovakia, Turkey, USA, United Kingdom (Scotland, England, Northern Ireland), United Arab Emirates. A nice touch was the anniversary of Paul Stewart, one of the founders of the Critical Labour Studies network, which co-organized the event. We were supported by the authorities of the University of Wrocław, including under the Excellence Initiative – Research University programme, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Institute of Sociology. The entire organising committee and the board of the Sociology of Labor Section of the Polish Sociological Association were actively involved in the organisation. However, the event would not have happened without the work of the entire Department of Sociology of Labor and the Economy and, at the last mile, the Rosa Luxemburg Scientific Circle of Leftist Thought.
They discussed various challenges to the world of labor on a global scale: growing anti-democratic tendencies, the rise of authoritarian governance, inequality in the labor market and unpaid labor. The discussion continued during thematic sessions on multicrisis in relation to the problems and challenges of migration, digitisation, green transformation, remote work, as well as care work and disability, among others. Special attention was paid to the relationship between academic research and the world of work, pointing out the need to support practices aimed at crossing barriers between these worlds. More about the conference https://uwr.edu.pl/spoleczne-granice-pracy-warsztaty-z-partnerami-spolecznymi/
