22nd February 2024, 3pm GMT / 4pm CET / 9am EST

Speaker: Bénédicte Zimmermann, Professor of Sociology at the École des hautes études en Sciences Sociales in Paris

Discussant: Philippa Shepherd, Université Grenoble Alpes, one of the coordinators of the HDCA European Regional Network

Abstract:

Research on sustainable work remains split between social and ecological concerns, as do related policy concepts, such as “decent work”, “job quality” or “green jobs”. What is missing is a normative framework to bridge the gap between social and ecological agendas. In a first step, based on a literature review, I will sketch the conceptual landscape of sustainable work and identify the challenges it raises. In a second step, I will discuss whether and how the capability framework can help to address these challenges. With its focus on justice and deliberative democracy, the CA makes political sustainability as important a dimension of sustainable work as social and ecological sustainability. Based on this discussion, in a third step I propose a tentative definition of sustainable work and some building blocks for its practical operationalisation.

The event is open to all and can be accessed via the following Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87452515166?pwd=amcyVUh3YWZCYkppUHN6UjZLOHM3dz09
Meeting ID: 874 5251 5166
Passcode: 243772