Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
FrancoAngeli Journals

Work and welfare transformations in the climate crisis: A research pathway towa

2023

Work and welfare transformations in the climate crisis: A research pathway towards an ecological, just transition

  • Maura Benegiamo
  • Paul Guillibert
  • Matteo Villa
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/SL2023-165001oa
Submitted
maggio 22, 2023
Published
2023-06-07

Abstract

In this introduction to the special issue of Sociologia del lavoro, devoted to labour transformations and welfare policies in the context of the ecological crisis, the authors review the state of the debate, focusing on three emerging concepts: climate justice, just transition and sustainable welfare. They provide an analysis of the academic and non-academic contexts in which these concepts have emerged and the kinds of programmatic questions that they raise for the study of labour transformations, social movements and welfare policies. After discussing how the collected contributions operationalise the three concepts in different empirical and research contexts, the article outlines some critical gaps that warrant being addressed or explored further and propose a few methodological and analytical pointers that  are useful for the continuation of the debate and, thus, the growth of a field of analysis that is destined to occupy a major space in the sociology of labour.

References

  1. Alberio M, Arcidiacono D. (2020). Lavori verdi? Pratiche e profili professionali nella transizione ecologica, Lavoro verde, 98: 9-28.
  2. Azzati S. et al. (2020). Economías populares en la pandemia. Report. Buenos Aires: Clacso. Text available at the website https://www.clacso.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/InformeClacso_FINAL-FINAL.pdf, 26 February 2023.
  3. Baglioni E., Campling L., Hanlon, G. (2020). Global value chains as entrepreneurial capture: Insights from management theory. Review of International Political Economy, 27(4), 903-925.
  4. Barca, S. (2020). Forces of reproduction: Notes for a counter-hegemonic anthropocene. Cambridge University Press.
  5. Bateson G. (1972). Steps to an Ecology of Mind. New York: Chandler Publishing Company.
  6. Beblavý M., Maselli I. and Veselková M. (eds.) (2014). Let’ s Get to Work! The Future of Labour In Europe. Report, Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies.
  7. Benegiamo M. (2022). Agrarian development and food security: ecology, labour and crises. In: Pellizoni L., Leonardi E. and Asara V. (eds), Handbook of Critical Environmental Politics. London: Edward Elgar.
  8. Benegiamo M., Leonardi E. (2021). André Gorz’s Labour-based Political Ecology and Its Legacy for XXI Century. In: N. Räthzel, D. Stevis and D. Uzzell (eds.). Cit.
  9. Bettini G. (2017). Where Next? Climate Change, Migration, and the (Bio)politics of Adaptation. Glob Policy, 8: 33-39. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12404
  10. Borghi V., Zamponi L. (eds.) (2012). Terra e lavoro nel capitalismo contemporaneo. Sociologia del Lavoro, 128, Special Issue.
  11. Büchs M., Koch M. (2017), Postgrowth and Wellbeing. Challenges to Sustainable Welfare, Palgrave MacMillan, London.
  12. Centemeri, L. (2015). Reframing problems of incommensurability in environmental conflicts through pragmatic sociology: From value pluralism to the plurality of modes of engagement with the environment. Environmental values, 24(3), 299-320.
  13. Chédikian, E., Guillibert, P., Gallo Lassere, D., (2020). The Climate of Roundabouts: Gilets Jaunes and Environmentalism. South Atlantic Quarterly, 119(4): 887-897. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-8663783
  14. Corlet Walker C., Druckman A. and Jackson T. (2021). Welfare systems without economic growth: A review of the challenges and next steps for the field. Ecological Economics, 186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107066
  15. Daly H.E. (2007). Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development. Selected Essays of Herman Daly. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
  16. Emmenegger P., Häusermann S., Palier B. and Seeleib-Kaiser M., (2012). The Age of Dualization. The Changing Face of Inequality in Deindustrializing Societies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  17. Escobar A. (2018). Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds. Duke: Duke University Press.
  18. Feltrin L., Sacchetto D. (2021). The Work-Technology Nexus and Working-Class Environmentalism. Theory and Society 50: 815-835. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-021-09441-5
  19. Feltrin L., Leonardi E. (2022). Postfazione: dall’ambientalismo operaio alla giustizia climatica. In: AAVV, Un piano per il futuro della fabbrica di Firenze. Milano: Fondazione Feltrinelli.
  20. Fitzpatrick T. (ed.) (2011). Understanding the Environment and Social Policy, Bristol: Policy Press.
  21. Fritz M., Koch M., (2019). Public Support for Sustainable Welfare Compared: Links between Attitudes towards Climate and Welfare Policies. Sustainability, 11(4146). Doi:10.3390/su11154146.
  22. Galgoczi B. (2018). Just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all - ILO ACTRAV Policy Brief. Text available at ‎the website https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---actrav/documents/publication/wcms_647648.pdf
  23. Galgoczi B. (2021). From ‘Just Transition’ to the ‘Eco-Social State’. In: Räthzel N., Stevis D. and Uzzell D. (eds.). Cit.
  24. García-Garcíaa P., Carpintero O. and Buendía L. (2020). Just energy transitions to low carbon economies: A review of the concept and its effects on labour and income. Energy Research & Social Science, 70. DOI:10.1016/j.erss.2020.101664.
  25. Gough I. (2017). Heat, Greed and Human Need. Climate Change, Capitalism and Sustainable Wellbeing. Cheltenham: Eward Elgar.
  26. Gorz A (1999) Reclaiming Work: Beyond the Wage-Based Society Cambridge, UK: Polity.
  27. Guillibert P, Barca S, Leonardi E. 2022. Labour in the transition to the circular economy. A critical ‎literature review on just transition and circular economy, Horizon project Just2Ce. Text available at ‎the website https://just2ce.eu/e-library/. Gorz 26 February 2023.‎
  28. Hansson E., Knutsen H.M. (2010). Theoretical approaches to changing labour regimes in transition economies, in: Bergene A.C, Endresen S.B., (eds.) Missing Links in Labour Geography Ashgate Publishing, p. 155-169.
  29. Häusermann S. (2012). The Politics of the New Social Policies. In Bonoli G. and Natali D. (eds.). The Politics of the New Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  30. Hirvilammi T., Koch M. (2020). Sustainable Welfare beyond Growth. Sustainability, 12(5), 1824. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12051824.
  31. Hornborg A. (2013). Global ecology and unequal exchange: fetishism in a zero-sum world. London: Routledge.
  32. Iofrida M. (2019). Per un paradigma del corpo: una rifondazione ecologica della filosofia. Macerata: Quodlibet.
  33. ILO, International Labour Organization (2015). Guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all. Report. Geneva: ILO Publications.
  34. Ipcc (2014). Climate change 2014: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Fith Assesment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  35. Ison R. (2017). Systems Practice: How to Act In Situations of Uncertainty and Complexity in a Climate-Change World. London: Springer.
  36. Jackson T. (2002). Quality of Life, Sustainability and Economic Growth. I: Fitzpatrick T., Cahill M., Environment and Welfare. Towards a Green Social Policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  37. Jacobsen S.G. (Ed.). Climate Justice and the Economy. Social Mobilization, Knowledge and the Political. New York: Routledge.
  38. Johansson H., Khan J., Hildingson R. (2016). Climate change and the welfare state: do we see a new generation of social risk emerging?. In: Koch M. and Mont O. (eds.). Cit.
  39. Keyßer L.T., Lenzen M. (2021). 1.5 °C degrowth scenarios suggest the need for new mitigation pathway. Nature Communications, 12(2676). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22884-9.
  40. Koch M., Buch-Hansen H. (2020). In search of a political economy of the postgrowth era. Globalizations. DOI: 10.1080/14747731.2020.1807837.
  41. Koch M., Mont O. (2016). Sustainability and the Political Economy of Welfare. London: Routledge.
  42. Korhonen. J, Honkasalo K. and Seppälä J. (2018), Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations. Ecological Economics, 143: 37–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.06.041.
  43. Laurent E. (2021). From welfare to farewell: the European social-ecological state beyond economic growth. Working Paper 2021.04. Brussels: ETUI.
  44. Lawn P. (2016). Resolving the Climate Change Crisis. The Ecological Economics of Climate Change. New York: Springer.
  45. Leonardi E. (2019). Bringing Class Analysis Back In. Ecological Economics, 156: 83-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.09.012
  46. Martinez-Alier J. (2021). Circularity, entropy, ecological conflicts and LFFU, Local Environment, 27(10-11): 1182-1207, DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2021.1983795.
  47. Martinez-Alier, J., & Muradian, R. (Eds.) (2015). Handbook of ecological economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
  48. Martinez-Alier J., Temper L., Del Bene D. and Scheidel A. (2016). Is there a global environmental justice movement?. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 43(3): 731-755. DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2016.1141198.
  49. Mazzocchi T. (1993). A Superfund for Workers. Earth Island Journal, 9(1): 40-41.
  50. Max-Neef M.A. (1991). Human scale development: conception, application and further reflections. New York: The Apex Press.
  51. Morena E., Krause D. and Stevis D. (eds.) (2020). Just Transitions: Social Justice in the Shift Towards a Low-carbon World. New York: Pluto Press.
  52. Pellizzoni L. (2015). Ontological Politics in a Disposable World: The New Mastery of Nature. London: Routlege.
  53. Pellizzoni, L. (2022). Post-work and ecology. In: Pellizzoni L., Leonardi E. and Asara V. (eds.) Handbook of Critical Environmental Politics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
  54. Pellizzoni L., Leonardi E. and Asara V. (2022). Introduction. In: Id. (eds.), Handbook of Critical Environmental Politics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
  55. Polanyi K. (1977). The Livelihood of Man. New York: Academic Press.
  56. Räthzel N., Stevis D. and Uzzell D. (eds.) (2021). The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Labour Studies. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  57. Robbins P. (2004). Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
  58. Schaffrin A. (2014). The new social risks and opportunities of climate change. In: Fitzpatrick T. (ed.). International Handbook on Social Policy and the Environment, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
  59. Schoyen M.A., Hvinden B. and Dotterud Leiren M. (eds.) (2022). Towards Sustainable Welfare States in Europe. Social Policy and Climate Change. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
  60. Spash C.L. (ed.) (2017). Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics. Nature and Society. London: Routledge.
  61. Stead W.E., Stead J.G. (1994). Can Humankind Change the Economic Myth? Paradigm Shifts Necessary for Ecologically Sustainable Business. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 7(4): 15-31. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534819410061351.
  62. Taylor-Gooby P. (2013). The Double Crisis of the Welfare State and What We Can Do About It. New York: Springer.
  63. Tomassetti P. (2020). From Treadmill of Production to Just Transition and Beyond. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 26(4): 439–457.
  64. Villa M. (2020). Crisi ecologica e nuovi rischi sociali: verso una ricerca integrata in materia di politica sociale e sostenibilità. In: Tomei G. (a cura di). Le reti della conoscenza nella società globale, Roma: Carocci.
  65. Villa M. (2023). Cambiare o traccheggiare? Politica e lavoro eco-sociale, transizione ecologica e la sfida della complessità: note di campo. In: Matutini E. (a cura di). Environmental social work. Lavoro sociale, giustizia ambientale e sostenibilità ecologica, Varazze: PM Edizioni.
  66. Villa M. (forthcoming). Sustainable Transitions and the Welfare State: A Pragmatist-Systemic Approach, Project Under contract. London: Routledge.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...