Global Political Economy of Labour

Nowadays, work can only be grasped inadequately within the framework of nation-state categories. It is much more important to understand the complex interrelationships in a world characterised by globalisation, migration and multiple crises. In this context, it is important to not limit the view of the field of wage labour, but to also consider the issue of social reproduction and the social and developmental framework of work conditions. In this way, it can be better explained under which conditions people work and which possibilities they have to enter into conflicts about the shaping of these conditions. Only with such a broad understanding of work, can the strategies of social movements and trade unions in the course of the socio-ecological transformation be adequately grasped. The main topics of the department are therefore migration and labour, conflicts and social movements, trade unions, intersectionality and global networks of production and reproduction. The department is responsible for the master's programme in Labour Policies and Globalisation and is involved in the establishment of the Kassel Institute for Sustainability.