5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

This panel explores the resurgence of public forms of global labor regulation across different bodies of law (criminal, civil, company) as responses to the failure to end the exploitation of migrants and workers in global value chains through private governance. A conceptual question concerns the different mechanisms of regulating by public versus private actors, their 'reach' in addressing the root causes of exploitation, and their outcomes for strengthening fundamental labor rights, as defined by the ILO, for example, collective versus individual protections, labor recruitment versus workplace safety, legal versus illegal markets, formal versus informal employment, etc.. Papers may cover specific interventions at the international, regional and national levels, including anti-trafficking conventions, due diligence and supply chain liability laws, forced labor and modern slavery acts, as well as attempts to extend labor rights across territorial jurisdictions through trade-unions, migrant rights and other social organizations. Papers are especially welcome which compare different laws, address how legal frameworks interact across multiple levels of polities, and/or engage in world regional comparisons and different varieties of modernity (neo-liberal, social-democratic, authoritarian).