Work, Employment and Society Conference 2021
25 August 2021 to 27 August 2021
9:00am-5:00pm
Connectedness, Activism and Dignity at work in a Precarious Era
BSA Work, Employment and Society Conference 2021
The global COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly altered how and where people work, as well as putting enormous pressure on a wide range of essential and key workers. At the same time around a million people will have lost their jobs in 2020 while many more faced reductions in hours and earnings.
The pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on some groups, with higher numbers of deaths among black and minority ethnic (BME) groups, in part due to their predominance in high-risk sectors. Furthermore BME and young workers are overrepresented in the sectors worst hit by job loss. The widespread shift to homeworking has transformed work routines, with some possible benefits, but it has also placed additional burdens on women juggling childcare and work, and the longer-term effects of solitary working are not yet known. It is in the context of this transformed world of work that the Work, Employment and Society conference 2021 (WES 2021) will take place online (postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic). These dramatic changes in the location and dynamics of work have fragmented the fabric of people’s lives, impacting on health, relationships and communities; for many, destroying the self-efficacy and social connections that extend dignity and a sense of citizenship.
WES 2021 will bring together work and employment researchers from a range of different historical, geographical, cultural, methodological, sectoral and disciplinary perspectives. It will be an opportunity to debate and contest all matters of work, related to the theme of connectedness, activism and dignity.