The Politics of Unpaid Labour

The talk introduces a theory of the politics of unpaid labour, advancing our understanding of inequality within the context of precarious work. Arguing that this theory can help address the inequalities perpetuating the dynamics and processes underpinning stigma which surround the rise of precarious work under labour market reforms and societal and technological changes, it forges a link between the micro properties of the social system and its macro-level structural patterns. The former relates to the motivations and meanings individuals attribute to the unpaid labour they perform in a context where employment is precarious, while the latter refers to how individuals build resilience through sustaining unpaid labour by accessing resources found within the private social, financial sphere of the family as well as in regulatory arrangements at the level of the state and other social institutions.

The analysis is based on an extensive research comparing meanings of unpaid labour in creative dance, residential care, online freelancing in Europe. It advances current discussion in three ways. First, it establishes the characteristics differentiating employment from self-employment, and how these lead to a revised definition of unpaid labour. Second, it illustrates that unpaid labour is both shaped by class and serves to reproduce class interests, revealing ongoing changes in welfare, employment, and state institutional policies. Third, it considers the necessity to establish conditions within the labour market conducive to genuinely cultivating and honouring the diversity of human capabilities and actions within labour structures and promoting their manifestation.

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About Valeria Pulignano

Valeria Pulignano is Professor in Sociology at the Centre for Sociological Research (CESO) - KU Leuven. She is titularis of a Francqui Stichting Research Professorship mandate (2023-2026) and member of Leuven.AI - KU Leuven Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fellow at IRRU University of Warwick and LISER (Luxembourg) and Co-Researcher at CRIMT (Centre for Globalisation and Work) at the University of Montreal and Laval in Canada. She has published extensively on topics related to the sociology of work, comparative European industrial (employment) relations, labour markets and inequality, working conditions, job quality and workers’ voice.