Flexible Employment Regimes and Social Inequalities
Inaugural Francqui Lecture Professor Steven Vallas - 21 September 2017
A spectre is increasingly haunting European workers. Increasingly called "precarity", the term has only recently been invented, and has quickly become a major concern among not only scholars studying the transformation of employment, but also policy makers, union leaders, feminists, immigrants, and social activists generally. In an age of globalization, the financial crisis, and the digital revolution, a sense of fear and anxiety about economic security has gripped millions of workers to an extent not felt for generations.
Mindful of these concerns, the Francqui Foundation is proud to sponsor a program of events that will be led by the American sociologist Professor Steven Peter Vallas of Northeastern University.
The program commences with an inaugural lecture on "Precarity, Inequality, and the Crisis Tendencies of Neo-liberalism." Scholars from nine Belgian universities will then participate in a series of monthly workshops designed to advance the state of our knowledge about five core themes:
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the reconfiguration of collective bargaining;
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the health consequences of economic vulnerability;
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labor market restructuring and the need for active labor market policies;
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alternative forms of employment beyond market-based work; and
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the meanings of workplace "diversity" in an age of ethno-nationalism.
The program will close with a symposium in which leading policy makers and intellectuals share their vision of social and economic paths leading beyond the political economy of insecurity.
Personal invitation opening lecture:
We are very pleased to invite you to this opening lecture with Professor Steven Vallas which will include speeches by a member of the Board of Governors (KU Leuven), Bart Kerremans (Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences) and Professor em. Pierre Van Moerbeke (Francqui Foundation). This will be followed by a reception at 7 pm. Please let us know if you will be joining us by clicking here. Please contact us at francquichair@kuleuven.be if you have any questions.
Date: 21 September 2017
Time: 5:00 -7:00 pm
Venue: Promotiezaal (Universiteitshallen), Naamsestraat 22, 3000 Leuven
Reception: R-café, Boekhandelstraat 2, 3000 Leuven
Please register here for the opening lecture and/or the workshops before 14 September 2017.
Workshops:
Please click here for more details on the workshops.