MIGRATION AND LABOR IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

A world of workers is on the move. Migrants’ participation in contemporary economies is simultaneously a direct result of and a major factor shaping the continuities and transformations of global capitalism. The recent global pandemic has rendered visible the conflicts around migrant labour, particularly when it comes to the fundamental significance that foreign workers play in the most substentive sectors of employment while their working conditions are increasingly deteriorating. The increased public attention to the sectors of meat processing, construction and transport (among others) did not bring substantial improvement in working conditions, but it made it abundently clear that it is workers without access to citizenship rights who are exposed to the most gruesome practices of exploitation and impoverishment. 

Existing studies that focus on quantitive parameters of labour market segmentation and integration operate within nation state frameworks and are insufficiently prepared to deal with the transnationalisation of production, as well as the regulation and recruitment of labour. This seminar brings together important contributions from the sociology of work and migration research to offer a more comprehensive understanding of the intersections between labour and migration regimes on a global scale, as well as to the socio-economic and spatial contexts that give rise to complex forms of precarious work among migrants. It discusses the role that migrant status and the differentiation of (non-) citizenship conditions play in the construction of precarious workers. Furthermore, it addresses other non-work related factors that lead to the hierarchisation of workers and channel them into low-status and ‘low-skilled’ jobs on the basis of ascribed gender, ethnic and racial lines of difference. 

The seminar will familiarize students with important current debates on the nature of capitalist labour relations and struggles of migration, as well as their corresponding conceptual extensions, such as ‘precarisation’, ‘fragmentation’, ‘differential inclusion’, and ‘overexploitation’. In reading and discussing the seminar’s key texts, participants will be familiarized with empirical examples from different (trans)national contexts, in addition, they will be introduced and invited to engage with migrant workers’ struggles in Duisburg. 

Structure and content

The seminar will be held in English.

The seminar involves weekly group discussions of one academic source (text-based, audio or visual recording). Additional sources will also be recommended throughout the course. 

Classes

All students are required to do the weekly readings and homework. This involves reading all of the assigned literature for a particular week, being able to summarise the readings, as well as to compare different views (if the readings contradict each other), or underline their similarities. 

Important dates

Christmas holidays: December 23rd 2024 to January 7th 2025

Evaluation (10 ETCS credits)

The module is concluded with an oral exam that covers both the seminar attended by the students and the two lectures (‘Arbeit Beruf Organisation’ and ‘Migration und Globalisierung’).

COURSE SCHEDULE