ATHENS INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH (AT.IN.E.R.)3rd International Sociology Conference,
Athens11-14th May 2009
CALL FOR PAPERS
Sociology of Work Special Interest Stream:
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON VULNERABLE WORKERS
While the distribution, technologies and locations of work may be changing, the nature of work that is to be done in our world, and the associated vulnerabilities of such work, remains largely unchanged. Many reports tell us of work that is miserable, toxic, soul destroying, inadequately rewarded, and at times dangerous as we hear of people working on non-standard contracts who face mounting insecurities, front line service workers (mainly women) who work in call centres, retail and hospitality facing the emotional pressures and the health risks involved in the new ‘clean jobs’, and food packers and circuit board assemblers who suffer the continual pressure to push costs down an ever lengthening supply chain as large companies squeeze smaller companies into agreeing impossible contract terms, which are then reflected in the pay and conditions of workers. And this is not simply a reality for the private sector, as the public sector and even the domestic realm adopts the business model. The conclusion is that worldwide there is a deficit of decent work and increasing numbers of vulnerable workers. Fundamentally this revolves around core issues of pay, equity, security and dignity. It is these core issues and how they impact upon the lives of workers that this special stream wishes to address.
In the spirit of the inter-disciplinary nature of ATINER’s conferences we welcome papers drawing on a range of theoretical and conceptual frameworks and a variety of methodologies. However, we particularly welcome ethnographic and case study research that is able to reveal the realities of the day-to-day working lives of a range of vulnerable workers. Research that is able to capture the pleasures and pains of working lives of different occupational and social groups within different socio-economic contexts.
Please send 500 words abstract marked clearly ‘special interest stream’ to the stream organisers no later than December 20, 2008:
· Dr Sharon Bolton, Professor of Organisational Analysis, Strathclyde Business School and Academic member of ATINER. sharon.bolton@atiner.gr
AND
· Dr Gregory Katsas, Associate Professor of Sociology, The American College of Greece and Head, Sociology Research Unit, ATINER. gak@atiner.gr
Abstracts will be reviewed and decisions relayed to authors no later than January 20, 2009
Please refer to main Sociology Conference Call for conference details www.atiner.gr/docs/Sociology.htm
General conference enquiries to Dr Gregory Katsas: atiner@atiner.gr