03495 - Economic and Labor Sociology

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student: knows some of the main issues concerning the quality and functioning of economic life from a sociological and interdisciplinary analysis perspective; possesses an overall cognitive framework of the dynamic relationship between economy and society; knows how to use some of the concepts and analysis tools that economic sociology has identified over time to explain productive actions and practices, emphasising from time to time the centrality of social relations, social institutions and their respective roles and reciprocal influences. At the end of the course, the student also: possesses an overall cognitive framework of the development of industrial and labour sociology; knows the themes of the transformation of work and the social meanings linked to it; knows the fundamental theoretical concepts on the themes addressed in classical and contemporary labour theories; knows and is able to recognise the different interpretative perspectives used in the analysis of today's emerging socio-labour issues (first and foremost: precariousness and flexibility, crisis of salaried labour, emergence of knowledge as a fundamental productive resource, progressive digitalisation of work processes).

Course contents

 

Thematic block 1


What is economic sociology and what is the relationship between economics and sociology?



Thematic block 2


The main socio-economic actors and the regulation of contemporary capitalism


Capitalism and models of (welfare) capitalism




Thematic block 3


The labour market.


The relationship between the labour market and society.


Employment, unemployment and activity. Definition and calculation of rates.


Unemployment patterns in Europe? The Italian case.


Thematic block 4


Labour transformations, processes of impoverishment and new forms of precariousness


Poverty, work and precarity.


Inequalities in the labour market


The situation of young people, women and migrants in the labour market and in the different spheres of life.




Thematic block 5


Policies


Governing the phenomena of precariousness and inequalities between limits and opportunities


Labour policies.


Thematic Block 6


Labour and social transformations


New and old jobs between technological, value and societal changes.


The boundaries between work and personal life. The question of reconciliation.


Work and the environmental issue

 

Thematic Block 7

Possible thematic insights.


Possible examples:


Work and Platform economy.


The working poor in Italy and in the world.


Prostitution and its new forms. Work or marginality?


Several invited speakers are scheduled in this session.

Readings/Bibliography

C. Trigilia (2009) Sociologia economica 2. Temi e percorsi contemporanei. Bologna, Il Mulino. Capitolo : I, III e cap. IV-

L. Burroni (2016) Capitalismi a confronto. Istituzioni e regolazioni dell’economia nei paesi europei. Bologna, Il Mulino. Capitoli obbligatori : introduzione e capitolo IV.

E. Reyneri (2021) Introduzione alla sociologia del mercato del lavoro. Bologna, Il Mulino. Capitoli obbligatori : I, III, IV.

F. Berti, A. Valzania (2020) Precarizzazione delle sfere di vita e disuguaglianze. Milano, Franco Angeli. Capitoli obbligatori : I (Berti e Valzania), III (Migliavacca), VIII (Martelli).

G. Orientale Caputo (2021) Analisi sociale del mercato del lavoro. Bologna, Il Mulino. Capitolo obbligatorio: VIII (Le riforme del mercato del lavoro e l’introduzione della flessibilità) e X (Recenti trasformazioni del lavoro e nuove forme di organizzazione).

Teaching methods

Guided visit to one or more local companies to observe the reality of production and work in certain sectors (industry, agriculture, services).


Possible in-depth study with audiovisual aids presented during the course and reported in the PPT.
Compulsory and optional bibliography.

Office hours

See the website of Marco Alberio