Department of Sociology of Organization and Management, Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Economics and Sociology, University of Łódź, Section of Sociology of Work of the Polish Sociological Association, Section of Qualitative Sociology and Symbolic Interactionism of the Polish Sociological Association, Łódź Branch of the Polish Sociological Association, ISA Research Committee 44 “Labor Movement” and the Critical Labor Studies Network invite you to participate in the international conference “Social Boundaries of Work: The Meanings of Work in Organizational Contexts”, which will be held in Łódź on October 21-23, 2026.
The eighth edition of the conference will focus on the meaning of work from the perspective of various social groups, considering diverse regional and local circumstances. During the conference “Social Boundaries of Work”, the organizers will seek answers to the following questions:
Which entities (corporations, the state, trade unions, labor movements, public authorities) are shifting the boundaries of work in the face of a multidimensional crisis? Under whose influence?
When and where are the traditional boundaries (office–home, working time–free time, permanent employment–contract) blurring the fastest?
What new forms of work boundaries are emerging due to digital transformation, the development of AI, the climate crisis, and the escalation of armed conflicts?
What are the social and individual consequences of shifting these boundaries, regarding, e.g., mental health, income inequality, and interpersonal relationships?
What barriers (legal, cultural, technological) and resistance do the initiators of changes in work boundaries and their opponents encounter?
How do different groups of workers, including migrants, women, gig workers, and academics, experience and negotiate the new boundaries of employment?
What strategies for defending or redefining work boundaries are being developed by workers, NGOs, and social movements?
How do legal regulations (e.g., concerning AI, remote work, green transition) shape or limit the possibility of shifting work boundaries?
What roles do economic and political interests and power structures play in shifting, consolidating, or blurring the boundaries of work?
The organizers propose discussion within the following areas:
The Limits of Digital Surveillance and Worker Autonomy: In the era of intelligent employee monitoring systems, including performance tracking, geolocation, and communication content analysis, employers are gaining tools for almost constant control over employee activity. Reflecting on the boundary between support and surveillance, and on ways to preserve absolute employee autonomy in the face of algorithmic surveillance, is now essential to protecting dignity and privacy in the workplace.
Hybrid Work, Spatial-Temporal Challenges, and Transnational Labor Networks: Models combining remote and stationary work after the COVID-19 pandemic have blurred the previous divisions between the workplace and home, extending working hours and complicating the rituals that separate private and professional life. Developing new practices and daily rituals that promote well-being and understanding the mechanisms that best support balance in hybrid models are becoming crucial. Flexible forms of employment and digital technologies enable people to work from anywhere, but complicate legal and tax issues. Research on the boundaries set by labor law and tax systems, as well as on mechanisms of transnational solidarity, helps to understand new forms of professional mobility.
Co-working Platforms, Gig Workers, and the Erosion of Formal and Informal Boundaries: Digital platforms such as Uber, Upwork, and Glovo are introducing non-standard forms of employment in which the legal status of the contractor remains unclear and social security is limited. Examining the mechanisms that protect contract workers and defining the boundary between self-employment and contract work is crucial to combating job precarity.
Algorithmic Management, AI, Data Ethics, and the Boundaries Between Human Work and Automation: Implementing artificial intelligence in recruitment, evaluation, and scheduling processes raises challenges related to the transparency of algorithms and the potential reinforcement of existing biases. Automation and robotization in manufacturing, logistics, and services are taking over repetitive tasks, forcing a redefinition of the role of employees in creative and emotional areas and raising questions about a “future without work.” It is essential to understand how to define the added value of human work in confrontation with machines and what digital and interpersonal skills will become crucial. It is also necessary to determine the responsibility of the designers of these systems and to develop mechanisms that guarantee the transparency and reversibility of decisions made by AI.
Class, Gender, Age, Ethnicity: Intersectional Inequalities and the Limits of Inclusion: Despite growing awareness of the need for diversity, structural gender, ethnic, and class barriers continue to affect the labor market opportunities of different employee groups. On the one hand, they hinder equal access to prestigious sectors such as STEM or the creative industry, reinforcing wage inequalities and limiting career advancement paths. On the other hand, these inequalities are embedded in the functioning of traditional sectors, reproducing old and creating new dimensions of labor market and employment segmentation. Questions arise about the possibilities of overcoming such barriers through the actions of employers, trade unions, and social movements. An additional challenge is the coexistence of multiple generations in the labor market, which implies new actions and regulations and changes the organizational landscape.
Emotional Boundaries of Work: Managing Emotions, Stress, and Burnout: Working in changing conditions and the demands placed on employees and employers are changing expectations regarding the (non)display of certain emotions. The development of emotional competencies is becoming vital in modern organizations. Emotional labor has become an integral part of individual’s work. Therefore, it is essential to recognize the practices of emotion management and the emotional competencies possessed by employees, employers, and other actors in the social life of organization.
Well-being and Teal Organizations in Times of Intense Pressure: Permanent availability and growing expectations regarding performance may paradoxically contribute to the development of innovative mental health support programs and organizational models in which well-being becomes integral to the work culture, including the emergence of teal organizations and holacracies.
Co-Governance in the Public Sector: Participatory budgeting, urban living labs, and deliberative platforms shift decision-making powers from officials to citizens, creating new forms of shared responsibility. Reflection on the mechanisms of representativeness, inclusiveness, and ethical standards of mass deliberation will help determine how hybrid models are redefining the boundaries of public administration.
Traditional and Innovative Forms of Employee Representation: The challenges associated with digitalization, platformization, and automation, the spread of subcontracting and self-employment, as well as changes in the composition of employee communities, are fostering the search for new forms of employee representation within new, often politically radical trade unions and worker collectives. How are traditional trade unions responding to these changes, and how are existing institutions of collective labor relations changing under their influence?
Transnational Migration and Citizenship in the Workplace: The intensification of transnational migration due to wars, climate change, and economic inequalities in the capitalist world system creates new challenges for workplace citizenship. What are the experiences of migrant workers in traditional and new countries of immigration? How does their presence affect local labor markets and labor relations systems? What divisions and new forms of solidarity in the workspace are emerging as a result of migration?
Regional Labor Markets and Local Employment Conditions: Organizations are closely linked to local functioning. Finding the right workforce in a region often becomes a challenge for employers. Therefore, regional development that attracts or retains the workforce, including the younger generation, in the local labor market becomes vital.
New methods for the work boundaries research: Digital ethnography, big data analysis from social media, and shadowing in virtual environments open up opportunities for researchers to track work “in motion.” However, combining quantitative and qualitative methods and the ethical dilemmas related to participant privacy require critical analysis and the development of good online research practices. The development of qualitative research allows for an in-depth, ethnographic description of the functioning of organizations in the labor market and of employees in organizations, including the recognition of the individual perspective of employees through autoethnographic and even contemplative descriptions of individual experiences.
For further details, visit https://socialboundariesofwork.pts.org.pl/en/cpf/