Dear colleagues,

 

Please find attached a call for participants for an (on-site) workshop on 'New Directions in Labour Process Theory'. The workshop will be hosted by the University of Padua and will take place in January 2023. Interested scholars should submit an abstract by the 30th of August.

All the best,

Francesco

 ***

Workshop: New Directions in Labour Process Theory

      University of Padova, 26-27 January 2023

 

In recent years, Labour Process Theory (LPT) has witnessed a resurgence. A growing body of research adopts LPT as its main analytical approach in the study of employment and industrial relations, sociology of work, labour movements and collective action, labour and economic geography. Current approaches inspired by LPT are multifaceted and diverse. Several of LPT initial tenets that openly engaged with the development of a coherent approach centred on labour process dynamics have been put under scrutiny. Within the broad boundaries set by the approach, much has been debated, revised, modified or reinforced.

 

Amidst a lively and long-running debate, Labour Process Theory has proven to be an increasingly interesting perspective to look at the multiple recent transformations of labour, employment and industrial relations and managerial control. Over the last few years, LPT-inspired analyses have fruitfully investigated the new forms of control in the platform economy; the role of algorithmic discipline and technology in retail, services and manufacturing; the multiple forms of workers agency; the process and effects of production re-organization along global production networks; the relations between production, social reproduction, and labour regimes; labour mobility; and the application of new forms of control and value extraction that put in motion the emotional performance of workers. 

On the one hand, therefore, LPT demonstrates resilience and resurgence: it animates a lively debate and it provides a useful conceptual toolbox for the analysis of new forms of work organization and their consequences for labour. On the other hand, it maintains a radical approach to labour studies, offering a toolbox to analyse patterns of conflict and agency without losing sight of the role of structures and contexts of opportunities and constraints.

 

This workshop aims at discussing and advancing new research ideas which are broadly related to Labour Process Theory. Participants will submit a working paper in advance to the workshop and they will have the chance to get feedback and peer-review in a collaborative environment. The workshop will also feature three keynote presentations by Elena Baglioni, Stefanie Hürtgen and Paul Thompson. 

 

The workshop is organised by Francesco Bagnardi, Vincenzo Maccarrone, Devi Sacchetto and Francesca Alice Vianello. The event will take place on-site at the University of Padua, on the 26th and 27th of January 2023. There is no fee for attending the workshop, and there might be limited funds to support travel and accommodation expenses for scholars without institutional support. 

 

To apply, please submit a 250-word abstract, along with your name, position, and institutional affiliation. Abstracts should be submitted by the 30th August 2022 to Francesco Bagnardi ([log in to unmask]) or Vincenzo Maccarrone ([log in to unmask]). The selected participants will have to submit a working paper by the 10th of January 2023. 

 

Some of the papers that will be presented at the workshop will get the chance to be included in a special issue on Labour Process Theory of the Italian journal Sociologia del Lavoro, which will be published in the fall of 2023 and will be edited by Francesco Bagnardi and Vincenzo Maccarrone.