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First ISA Forum of Sociology
Sociological Research and Public Debate
Barcelona, Spain
September 5 - 8, 2008


Research Committee on
Sociology of Work RC30

Main theme
Globalization and its impacts on forms of work, territorialities, work organization and job contents


Programme Coordinators
Diane Gabrielle Tremblay, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada, tremblay.diane-gabrielle@teluq.uqam.ca and Marianna Busso, LEST, France, mariana.busso@univmed.fr

Local Hosts
Juan José Castillo, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain,
jjcastillo@cps.ucm.es and Pablo López Calle, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, plopezca@cps.ucm.es

The world of work is being transformed with new forms of work appearing, whether it is nomadic or boundaryless careers, telework or work from home or in call centers, or the blurring of boundaries between work and personal or family life with information technologies facilitating work “here, there and everywhere”, not to say anytime. Also the territorial dimension of work is evolving as more and more firms are bound into a network of relations, from the local level to the international level. The sessions in Barcelona would like to bring together research on these issues as they present themselves in different countries and regions and look at their impacts on work organization and work contents.

Amongst the sectors where important transformations are being seen are the service sectors, many of which have become part of a global value chain, as is the case in the banking, finance, consulting, software and tourism industries in particular. In many of these sectors, telework and call centers are taking a new importance and the forms of work and work contents are evolving in an important way. In other countries, it is industries that are very footloose and move to other countries, transforming the job content in both zones, as is often the case in the apparel industry for example. Those are only a few examples of cases of interest, and all regions may have different views on the same processes related to globalization, value chains, delocalization and the like.

We would also particularly like to address the transformations that are observed in forms of management, through the development of networks, clusters and the transformation of international hierarchies, in various countries. And we would like to analyse the impacts of all the above transformations on the employment of various categories of workers, i.e. youth, women, immigrants, aging workers, etc. Are some of these categories selected for specific forms of work? Are some excluded and is marginalization of some categories increasing in some countries or regions ? What are the impacts on the local and regional territories?

Finally, we would like to analyse the evolution in content of work and work organization. The concepts of autonomy, responsibility, discretion and control have been the object of interest for many decades, but the analysis seems to evolve as these concepts seem to be taking on new forms in the context of deterritorialization and globalization of many industries. We would like to see how the content of work and work organization are evolving in this context, and also how local development initiatives may be presenting interesting innovations or new ways of facing globalization and its often negative impacts on the volume of work and work content in specific zones.

Thus, the main issues addressed are the following: transformations in the localization of work, territories and work, new forms of work, work organization and job content.

Venue of RC30 sessions:

Edifici Rambla de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra
La Rambla 32
08002 Barcelona, Spain, map

Programme

Session 1: Migration and work 

Friday, September 5, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Chair: Delphine Mercier, LEST, France, delphine.mercier@univmed.fr

Session 2: Industrial districts and territories

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Chair: Alfredo Hualde, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Mexico, ahualde@dns.colef.mx and Klaus Schmierl, Institut for Social Research, München, Germany, Klaus.Schmierl@isf-muenchen.de 

Session 3: Informal work

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Chair: Patrick Gun Cuningham, Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez, México, pgcuninghame@yahoo.co.uk

Session 4: Work-life articulation and time

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Chair: Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay, Télé-université, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada,  tremblay.diane-gabrielle@teluq.uqam.ca

Session 5: Work in the knowledge economy

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Chair: Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay, Télé-université, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada,  tremblay.diane-gabrielle@teluq.uqam.ca

Session 6: Control of work and ICT

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Chair: Mariana Busso, LEST, France, mariana.busso@univmed.fr

Session 7: Job quality, well being and inequality

Friday, September 5, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Chair: Ian Campbell, RMIT University, Australia, iain.campbell@rmit.edu.au

Session 8: Welfare states, age and flexibility in work

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Chair: Patricia Vendramin, Fondation Travail-Université, Belgium, pvendramin@ftu-namur.org.

Session 9: Gender

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Chair: Teresa Tornsm, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, teresa.torns@uab.cat

Session 10: Globalization and work

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Chair: Delphine Mercier, LEST, France, delphine.mercier@univmed.fr

Session 11: Lifestyles and work-life issues

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Chair: Philippe Mossé, LEST, France, philippe.mosse@univmed.fr

Session 12: Precarious jobs and work

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Chair:  Klaus Schmierl Institut for Social Research, München, Germany, Klaus.Schmierl@isf-muenchen.de 

Session 13: Work-life issues

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Chair: Alfredo Hualde, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Mexico, ahualde@dns.colef.mx

Business Meeting

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 15:30-17:30

Session 14: Leisure and work dichotomy in contemporary society: Does it exist?

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Joint Session of RC13 Sociology of Leisure and RC30 Sociology of Work
Chairs: Diane Gabrielle Tremblay, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada,
tremblay.diane-gabrielle@teluq.uqam.ca and Luiz Octavio de Lima Camargo, Centro Universitario SENAC, Sao Paulo, Brazil, luiz.lcamargo@sp.senac.br

Session 15: Transformation in communication and work: The cultural construction and reconstruction of gender

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 18:00-20:00
Faculty of Philosophy, Geography and History, University of Barcelona
RC14 Sociology of Communication, Knowledge and Culture, RC30 Sociology of work, and RC32 Women in society
Co-Organizers: Christiana Constantopoulou, University of Macedonia, Greece, konstant@uom.gr, Diane Gabrielle Tremblay, Tele-Université, Canada tremblay.diane-gabrielle@teluq.uqam.ca, Margaret Abraham, Hofstra University, USA, margaret.abraham@hofstra.edu
New communication technologies have led to several transformations in work (and “leisure”) with implications on existing notions of the public and private space and changing notions of gender. Work at “home”, until recently associated with women, often precludes “normal labor rules” such as security, standard hours of paid work, syndicalism and conviviality at the work place. These issues related to work at home are becoming of increasing concern to more and more people, particularly women and youth. The ongoing transformations in communication and work are reflected in the roles of institutions and the ideas disseminated by the press. For instance, in the absence and inefficacy of social services, the mass media has become an important vehicle whereby issues of poverty, employment opportunities and “special” appeals for help are addressed. Today, TV acts as a “social mediator”, both locally and globally in culturally constructing and reconstructing the way we communicate, our attitudes to work (both at home and the workplace), and in shaping our notions of gender.