SPECIAL ISSUE N. 176(3)/2026

1. Introduction
The aim of this special issue is to understand the phenomenon of long-term wage stagnation in Italy from
a sociological perspective. The SI aims to put foward a comprehensive analytical lens capable of capturing the multiple facets of the Italian “wage question”, grasping not only its direct economic and social causes and consequences, but also the social and political conditions underpinning its reproduction. Italy’s long and exceptional wage stagnation offers a privileged vantage point from which to observe the intertwinement of productive transformations, conflict dynamics, organisational practices, and processes
of social reproduction.
This special issue seeks to contribute to a renewed sociological attention to wages: not merely as an economic variable, but as a complex and multidimensional social institution, a terrain of negotiation and
conflict, a source of recognition, and a key component of material citizenship. Re-centering wages means questioning how labour creates value, how that value is recognised and distributed, and which conditions have made the last thirty years of wage stagnation in Italy possible—and relatively weakly contested.

Article proposals, written in Italian or English, must be submitted via the journal’s Open Journal Systems platform (https://journals.francoangeli.it/index.php/sl/about/submissions), approximately by 15 April
2026. Authors are encouraged to contact the special issue editors to discuss any potential deviations from the indicated deadlines. Authors must follow the instructions for uploading full manuscripts. Articles must not exceed 8,000 words and must comply with the journal’s style and editorial standards (available at this link https://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/NR/Sl-norme_EN.pdf). Any submission that does not
respect the word limit or the stylistic and editorial requirements outlined in this call will not be accepted.
Properly formatted articles submitted through the journal’s online platform will be subject to a doubleblind peer review process. For any further information, please contact: arianna.tassinari4@unibo.it or
roberto.rizza@unibo.it

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