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18^th edition of the Journées Internationales de Sociologie du Travail (JIST)

1^st to 3^rd July 2024

Évry, France

Call for papers

« Organising, disorganising, reorganising work »

Historically, sociology of work has developed out of a reflection on various dimensions of organisation, including the structures in which work is performed and the processes organising workforce exploitation. From the outset, the discipline took a critical look at the so-called scientific organisation of work, developed by F. W. Taylor. At the same time, it addressed the organisation of social relations of production focusing on the employment relationships, both as a contractual form of exchange between workers and employers and as a space for structuring conflicts and negotiations. Especially since the second half of the 1970s, it has also focused on issues of employment, unemployment, precariousness and underemployment, in a context marked by the emergence of major transformations in employment status and in the uses of labour, whether salaried, self-employed or informal (voluntary work, reproduction or domestic work, etc.).

After the JIST 2018 edition, focusing on the issue of struggles fifty years after the May 1968 movement, and following on from the 2021 edition, examining the blurring of boundaries of work the 2024 edition provides an opportunity to re-examine the processes of organisation, disorganisation and reorganisation of work which have been underway for several decades, and have probably intensified under the impact of a number of financial, health and environmental crises... What types of organising/disorganising/reorganising processes are we witnessing? Which political, social and economic actors are contributing to these? What effects on systemic functioning and on individuals and groups at work, either as employees or on the margins of the labour market?

The Journées internationales de sociologie du travail theme will spread over five streams, giving rise to sessions with papers and discussions, alongside plenary sessions and round tables.

Stream 1 | Permanence and reconfiguration of social relationships in the organisation, disorganisation and reorganisation of work

Work and employment constitute spheres for the expression, production, actualisation and subversion of social relations (whether class-based, age-based, gender-based, race-based, etc.). Contributions may focus on the permanence and reconfiguration of the social relations that permeate the worlds of work, specific activity sectors, public and private organisations and professional groups, in France and elsewhere. The aim is to examine the way in which social relations, that structure the social world as a whole, take root in the realm of work, under the impact of contemporary productive reconfigurations. Changes in the way work is organised and managed, as well as long-term unemployment, underemployment and job insecurity for certain sections of the population, are shaping forms of solidarity, together with the nature and extent of social domination. For instance, how do the permanence and reconfiguration of these social relations bring to light new forms of work or of employment that are devalued, degraded or even gratuitous or quasi-gratuitous and rendered invisible (domestic and reproduction work, voluntary work, informal work, customer work, traineeships, etc.)? What are the effects of major socio-demographic changes, such as ageing of population the massive increase of the number of women in paid employment or the lengthening of the integration phase between the end of initial training and stabilisation in employment, on the structure of the employment system and on the various social relationships? To what extent are social mobilisations (around economic, anti-capitalist, environmental, anti-consumerist, feminist, anti-racist or LGBTQI+ issues), which seek to influence these social relationships, transforming work organisations? To what extent are these social mobilisations hijacked or circumvented in order to reproduce exploitation and domination? To what extent do feminist, anti-racist, decolonial or environmentalist approaches reconfigure the terms of work-related mobilisations in different societal or socio-historical contexts?

Stream 2 | How digital technology and digitalisation affect the organising, disorganising and reorganising of work

Platform capitalism, uberisation of the economy, digital labour, algorithm-driven work and employment uberisation in the context of an interconnected globalised economy are just some of the terms used to describe the changes in employment and working conditions. These changes relate to the growing presence of digital technology in the content, organisation and duration of work, with its impact on personal and family time. 'Platform capitalism' worldwide development, especially since the health crisis, has been accentuated by the growing use of teleworking, which is a new dimension of work digitalisation, of work flexibilisation, the boundaries blurring between working time and personal life, and of the transformation of social relations in employment. The aim is to explore the ambivalence of digital tools, which can increase work autonomy but also intensify work and reinforce control.

This stream will focus on the development of digital platforms as a new work space: what are the impacts of digital platforms on work, on professions, but also on employment and social protection? What identities and identifications at work are being constructed by uberised workers? What are the new forms of management in the age of teleworking and the omnipresence of algorithms and data? What kind of disorganisation/reorganisation of work collectives are they producing?

This stream will also investigate the impact of recent technologies, particularly artificial intelligences: what are workers' perceptions of these new tools? What forms of support or resistance do they create at work? What are the specific issues raised by the digitisation of tasks for low-skilled workers, who are potentially called upon to adapt to these technological innovations, both in the countries of the global North, whose companies offshore some of these activities, and in the countries that host these offshored jobs? Finally, how do individuals and workgroups appropriate the digital tools with which they work, and with what purpose?

Stream 3 | How collective and individual mobilisation affect the organising, disorganising and reorganising of work in the context of transformations in work and employment

The stream intends to explore the different phases of mobilisation, in terms of their sequence and content, from the events that triggered them to the pursued goals and their subsequent impact on the organisation, disorganisation and reorganisation of work. Contributions are expected to provide an overview of the different motives for mobilisation, whether these consist of defensive actions against projects or decisions by the state or organisations, or offensive demands made by employees, trade unions or other collective actors.

Consideration can be given to the national, transnational, social, legal and organisational conditions that enable the emergence of mobilisations in or about the workplace, as well as the actors and supports that influence their configuration. Attention can also be paid to changes in the legal arrangements framing collective action - for example, in the case of France, the profound changes in the arrangements for representing employees' interests (changes in the rules on representativeness in 2008 and the merger of staff representative bodies into the CSE in 2020).

Communications can look at ways of organising ("autonomous" coordinations, unions or inter-union groups, solidarity collectives, networks of sympathisers, etc.), of deliberating and of making decisions, showing the potential difficulties of association linked to multiple social positions (profession, function, status, gender, age, etc.) and different points of view.

Also of interest are encounters between social movements directly linked to work or employment and movements and associations focused primarily on environmental, feminist or anti-racist issues, on a national or transnational scale.

Contributions can otherwise highlight the affects, desires and moral statements triggered by changes in the world of work, as well as the social, economic and environmental reforms and counter-reforms implemented by the public authorities in France and other countries.

Finally, one can analyse/study discourses and arrangements in both the private and public sectors that encourage a different kind of employee mobilisation, as well as that of legally independent but economically dependent subcontractors, through 'new' methods of work organisation or 'new' arrangements for putting people to work.

Stream 4 | How public policy affects the organising, disorganising and reorganising of work

This stream addresses actions and orientations in public policy that contribute to the construction/deconstruction/reconstruction of relations to work and to employment, on a national or transnational scale. How do policy choices change the way work and employment are performed, and transform the relation to work of people considered as active, job-seeking or inactive? What are the effects of employment policies on the employment system, on the recruitment and management of salaried and freelance workers, on the activities of support professionals, and on the situation and representations of the target groups? What impact have recent or ongoing reforms had on trajectories, pathways and careers? In France, this involves looking at reforms to vocational training, unemployment insurance and the retirement system, at the replacement of Pôle Emploi by France Travail, and tighter constraints on those entitled to RSA (active solidarity income). In other countries, are expected analyses of comparable or contrasting reforms. What responses have been enacted to combat, adapt to or circumvent these reforms, individually and collectively? How have these reforms modified work organizations, employment, underemployment and unemployment configurations (whether recorded or not), the place of informal work, managerial practices, gender relations, class relations and the social rights of some and of others? What visions of society, work, employment, unemployment and health do these public policies embody? What do public policies and their accompanying rhetoric entail in terms of the position of work, the relationship to work, the meaning of work, and health in the workplace? What are their effects on employers, employees, non-status workers on the margins of the employment system (precarious workers, young and not-so-young people trapped in various integration schemes, pseudo-independent workers, etc.), jobseekers and professionals in the field of professional integration? To what extent do they influence public policies in other fields and union strategies?

Stream 5 | How "crises" affect organizing, disorganizing and reorganizing of work

The world of work is undergoing constant and complex evolutions, which tend to accelerate in numerous territories, on a local, national, European or global scale. The environment in which organizations operate is becoming more volatile and elusive, in terms of their financing, production and work organization structures (for example, the rise of teleworking and flex-office, which are likely to fuel a logic of isolation and/or "nomadism" among workers, and the destructuring of work collectives). These transformations, perceived as abrupt by many workers, are indicative of social, financial and environmental ruptures (or "crises") that affect all types of organization. More specifically, we might also consider a "crisis in the meaning of work", comparable in some respects to that of the 1960s-70s.

In this context, how do public and private organizations reorganize to maintain their production activities and the professional dynamics at play? What effects does this have on employees' mental health, for whom work seems increasingly unbearable? At the same time, these "crises" provide an opportunity to increase workers' adaptability and responsiveness, and to introduce new social norms, professional or managerial practices, rebuild professional networks and experiment with alternative work organizations (Fablabs, social economy initiatives, etc.).

This stream prompts a number of issues. On the one hand, what consequences do these "crises" have on production activities, on work itself, on work collective organization, identity, relations and practices, and on workers' perceptions of their work? On the other hand, this stream is an opportunity to question the very notion of "crisis" and the meanings assigned to it by the actors who mobilize it. Finally, questions can be posed about the media treatment of "crises" (by the scientific, political or managerial spheres, in public arenas), in particular the way in which questions about work feed into discourse on crises, and vice versa.

This makes it possible to examine the relationship between crises and the organization, disorganization and reorganization of work: do crises reflect an intensification of the transformation dynamics, or are they at the root of their acceleration ?

Communication proposals

Contributors are encouraged to draw on empirical data, although purely theoretical proposals may also be submitted. Visual sociology methods using photographic, filmic or other techniques can be employed. Papers proposing new approaches, methods, theories, narratives and writings are particularly welcome.

Being the Journées Internationales of the sociology of work, perspectives featuring international comparisons and proposals involving fieldwork outside France will be particularly welcome. Finally, proposals that analyse from an intersectional perspective, how class, gender, age, sexuality and race relations are empirically articulated in the organization, disorganization and reorganization of work will be appreciated.

Proposals should be no more than 2,500 characters long (including spaces), and outline the issues, theoretical framework, nature of empirical material and main results.

The abstract, written in French, Spanish or English, using inclusive language[1], should be submitted on the Sciencesconf platform.

To submit your proposal, you must first create an account on this platform: https://portal.sciencesconf.org/user/createaccount

You can then upload your proposal by logging on to the JIST website, https://jist2024.sciencesconf.org, in the section Dépôts/Déposer un résumé, by pasting your text in the box provided.

If required, a notice « Aide au dépôt des résumés » is available on the website under the Calendrier section.