Working Lives Research Institute
JOURNEES INTERNATIONALES DE SOCIOLOGIE DU TRAVAIL (JIST) - International Days of Work Sociology
It is the name given to the 11th JIST Biennial French Sociology of Work
Conference taking place for the first time in London from the 20th to
the 22nd June 2007.
XIEMES JOURNEES INTERNATIONALES DE SOCIOLOGIE DU TRAVAIL (JIST) 20-21-22 JUIN 2007
It is a mainly French-based international scientific steering committee supported by a UK organising committee:
François Aballéa, Matéo Alaluf, Beatrice Appay, Régine Bercot, Paul Bouffartigue, Marie Buscatto, Lise Demailly, Didier Demazière, Pierre Desmarez, Gilbert de Tersac, Jean-Pierre Durand, Duncan Gallie, Steve Jefferys, Annette Jobert, Michel Lallement, Michele La Rosa, Danièle Linhart, Catherine Marry, Helen Rainbird, Pierre Rolle, José Rose, Magdalena Rosende, Jean Saglio, Marcelle Stroobants, Eric Verdier, Jens Thoemmes
Professor Linda Clarke, Professor Duncan Gallie, Professor John Grahl, Professor Linda Hantrais, Professor Geraldine Healy, Dr Philippe Marliere, Professor David Marsden, Dr Guglielmo Meardi, Dr Sue Milner, Professor Helen Rainbird, Professor Paul Stewart, Dr Carole Thornley
Dr Beatrice Appay, CNRS, Centre de Recherche sur les Liens Sociaux, Université Paris 5
Professor Steve Jefferys, Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University
At the London Metropolitan University's new law school building in Goulston Road, Aldgate.
Restructuring, precarisation and value
What has been the impact on work and on society of the introduction of
the new technologies, new methods of ‘governance’, greater flexibility
and insecurity associated with the restructuring, reorganisation and
rationalisation of working practices and the transformation of value
chains? New patterns of production are taking shape at the heart and
the margins of the world of work in the public, private, voluntary and
domestic sectors, as work is externalised and outsourced, and SMEs are
deployed strategically. Individuals are being called upon increasingly
to demonstrate commitment and autonomy, while being subjected to ever
greater constraints.
Viewed from above and below, the reality of work is at the intersection of these various perspectives. Wholly or partially, permanently or temporarily, individuals are experiencing growing insecurity at work, rooted in social, urban, ethnic and gender segregation and discrimination. New conflicts are erupting outside the place of employment, all of which are closely linked to the issue of work, the lack of it or the problems of gaining access to it (exemplified by the riots in France in November 2005, which exploded among the youth in ‘sensitive’ suburbs with very high unemployment rates, or the French student and trade union anti-CPE movement of February-March 2006).
Traditionally, in France, the sociology of work focused on the analysis of work in large firms, while other disciplines sought to understand different aspects of the reality of work within and outside the firm (the sociology of industrial relations, the firm, employment, occupational groups and gender). Sociologists of work today are looking for the tools needed to enable them to find new and more coherent ways of thinking about work (both ‘productive’ and ‘non-productive’), employment and unemployment, the definition and understanding of surplus value, the monetary and non-monetary ways of remunerating work as well as underlying conflicts and contradictions. This task is essential if we are to understand the future of contemporary society.
The JIST Conference provides an opportunity not only to engage in a wide debate about the future of work but also to make international comparisons. On the first day (Wednesday June 20) of the conference, a forum is being organised to enable an international exchange between French and English-speaking sociologists of work and researchers from other disciplines interested in changing work practices (lawyers, political scientists, historians, psychologists and specialists in management science). Simultaneous translation will be available between French and English. The second and third days (Thursday 21 and Friday 22 June) will be mainly in French and will follow the successful JIST approach based on plenary sessions and workshops for the presentation of case studies. As with a jig-saw puzzle, the workshops are the essential ingredients contributing to a multiple, varied and detailed understanding of the current state of the changing world of work.
January 15 2007
The UK Organising Committee of JIST2007 has responsibility for the content and agenda of the Opening International Day of the French-language JIST Work Sociology Conference taking place at the City Campus of the London Metropolitan University. This first day will be held in French and English with simultaneous translations in the plenary sessions and in one of the workshop sessions. Papers will be presented in English or French according to the wishes of the presenters. On the Thursday and Friday the debates will be largely in French and in response to the call issued by the French JIST Scientific Committee. Paper proposals (500 words) for this International Day should have an explicit or implicit comparative edge and should also be submitted by January 15 2007, and marked ‘International Day’ and by major theme, A-F, as appropriate :
A. Labour process and markets : precarisation and precarity, unemployment, wage relations, migration
B. Quality of work and discrimination : equality versus diversity, gender, ethnicity, disability, age
C. Reproduction of labour : training, skills, education, employability, welfare
D. Work regulation : mobilisation, conflict, trade unions, collective bargaining, partnership, the role of the state
E. Management : public, private, restructuring, relocation, value chains, performance, productivity
F. Researching work : innovative methods for researching work and international comparisons
Submissions and enquiries should be sent to :
workinglives@londonmet.ac.uk