Staff and doctoral students
Staff
Dr hab. Adam Mrozowicki, Prof. UWr (Head of Department)
Dr Jacek Burski
Dr Mateusz Karolak
Dr Agata Krasowska
Dr Olga Nowaczyk
Dr. Piotr Pieńkowski
Dr Szymon Pilch
PhD students
MA Olga Gitkiewicz
MA Könül Jafarova
Professor Emeritus
Dr hab. Zdzisław Zagórski, Prof. UWr
Main research fields
The research conducted in the Department of the Sociology of Work and Economic Sociology covers the topics of transformations of collective employment relations and the labour market, quality of jobs and precarity of employment, migration of transnational workers, digitalisation in the field of work and employment, consequences of the development of internet platforms for society, economy and democracy, and social resilience under conditions of socio-economic crises (polycrisis). Ongoing research projects address the problems of the world of work in both the public sector (e.g. education, health care, social assistance) and the private sector (logistics, high-tech industry, BPO centres and others). The analyses usually use mixed, quantitative and qualitative methods. For many years, the Department has been carrying out biographical research on various categories of working people in Poland, Europe and recently in the USA. Their theoretical foundations, which refer, among others, to the tradition of critical realism, interpretative sociology, Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology, as well as critical currents in labour studies, are important in the research work.
In addition, continuing the tradition of the Department of General Sociology, researchers in the Department conduct analyses on the topics of large-scale social structures and systems, including class structure and stratification, the sociology of contemporary processes (including globalisation, civilisational processes, (dis)integration of systems, post-communist transformation and regionalisation), the sociology of (in)security and risk.
Researchers in the Department, as well as PhD students, have publications in leading international and national journals in the field of sociology of work, economy and collective labour relations. The department has produced publications on the history of labour sociology in Poland as part of the project “Nestors of the sociology of work” initiated by its head (carried out by the Sociology of Work Section of the Polish Sociological Association).
The majority of people in the Department have experience in implementing projects and applying for external funding for scientific research. Research projects financed by the National Science Centre in Poland (programmes: OPUS, Preludium, Miniatura, Etuida), the Foundation for Polish Science, European Union and European Commission framework programmes (including Horizon Europe and the 7th Framework Programme), as well as the Excellence Initiative – Research University programme, have been and are being implemented in the Department.
National and international cooperation
The research projects carried out are based on extensive national and international collaborations. Long-standing scientific relationships link the Department’s staff to the following universities and teams: Centre for Sociological Research (Catholic University of Leuven), Institute for East European Studies (Free University Berlin), Collegium of Socio-Economics of the Warsaw School of Economics in Warsaw. Researchers in the department also collaborate with universities such as Alma Mater Studiorum – Universita Di Bologna, Universitat De Barcelona, Associação Laboratório Colaborativo Para O Trabalho, Emprego E Proteção Social (Colabor), Tartu Ulikool, University of Campinas, University Laval, University of Helsinki, National University of Colombia, Glasgow Caledonian University, University of Texas Houston, Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), ILR School – Cornell University, Grenoble Ecole de Management.
The Department is also a part of the WORK-NET INTERNATIONAL, an international network of research centres and institutes dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of work and employment
The Department also has a long history of cooperation in scientific projects with stakeholders in the field of economy and economic research, including trade unions, the European Trade Union Institute, the Institute of Public Affairs Foundation. The head of the department has served as a correspondent of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound).
Organisation of scientific events
VII international conference “Social Boundaries of Work. Critical Labour Studies in the Times of a Polycrisis“, Wrocław, 16-18 October 2024.
The series “Analytical Workshops on the World of Work” – Meetings devoted to the discussion of research material collected in projects on the world of work
Horizon Europe INCA project international seminar – INcrease corporate political responsibility and Accountability, 25-27 October 2023.
International conference ‘Digital realities. Work, mobilities and new opportunities and risks in Central and Eastern Europe in (post)pan-academic period’, 13-14 May 2021.
Scientific seminar “Institutions, structures and people. Prof. Zdzisław Morawski’s jubilee seminar”, 18.10.2018, Wrocław
Scientific seminar “Challenges of social sciences for contemporary Poland. Prof. Zdzisław Zagórski’s jubilee seminar”, 7.10.2016.
Conference series: “Civilisations in sociological perspective”, Wrocław, 12-13.12.2011, 12-13.12.2012
International conference: “Contemporary trade union representation of workers in Central and Eastern Europe: barriers, opportunities and challenges”, Wrocław 11-12.10.2012
International conference “Negotiating capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe? Chances and barriers to trade union renewal in a comparative perspective”, Wrocław 4.05.2011
International Conference „Social Agency. Theoretical and Methodological Challenges of the 21st Century Humanist Sociology”, Wrocław, 20-22.10.2010
