Inequalities of Access and Cross-Border Labor Markets

Tuesday, 8 July 2025: 09:00-10:45
Location: SJES030 (Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences (JES))
RC02 Economy and Society (host committee)

Language: English

Capitalism depends on economic growth to create the spoils that can then be used to alleviate class conflict. However, growth is reaching physical limits, casting doubt on sociologists’ preoccupation with studying resource distribution. Social closure, opportunity hoarding and other restrictions on equal access must come to the center of our attention as capabilities depend not only on resource endowment but also on inequalities of access.

The panel will discuss how of three kinds of inequalities of access impact transnational and global labor markets: borders constrain physical mobility—the global underclass is confined to socio-material settings that lack infrastructure and security. Institutionalized (dis-)connections differentiate between those whose properties are widely valued and others whose resources are valued in geographically and politically marginalized spaces, e.g., Iranian poets. Cultural and social boundaries, e.g., racism, assign and contest access through political struggle. Taken together, inequalities of access are a powerful structuring force.

Conceptual and empirical contributions are invited to focus on these concerns:

  • Dependency of cross-border labor markets on material, social and media infrastructures
  • How borders create an economy of recruiters and temporary work agencies; how being recruited impacts position in the labor market and intersectional inequalities
  • Work organizations and professions as bridging agencies vs. as agents of social closure
  • The connectivity of skills and knowledge and their (mis-)recognition
  • How institutional frameworks influence production regimes reliant on migrant labor as well as the exploitation of migrant labor in the concrete labor process
Session Organizers:
Janina PUDER, University of Kassel, Germany and Anja WEISS, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Chair:
Janina PUDER, University of Kassel, Germany
Oral Presentations
Building the Channels, Keeping the Gates: The Role of Intermediaries in Shaping Differentiated Transnational Labor Mobilities out of Indonesia
Gracia LIU-FARRER, Waseda University, Japan; Kiyoko SAITO, JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development, Japan; Firman BUDIANTO, Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia; Akiko ASAI, J. F. Oberlin University, Japan; Pamungkas DEWANTO, University of Mataram, Indonesia
‘Managing’ Welfare in Cross-Border Migration: The Case of Nepal
Sandhya AS, Bielefeld University, Germany
Space, Caste Capital, and Occupational Monopoly: Labor Market Inequality Among Plumbers in Delhi
Sanjeev ROUTRAY, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam
Skills, Migrants and Cross-Border Labour Markets
Eleonore KOFMAN, Middlesex University, United Kingdom; Anja WEISS, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Skills As Borders, Skills As Routes
Damini PURKAYASTHA, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, USA; Tuba BIRCAN BIRCAN, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium
Distributed Papers
(In)Visible Inequalities: War-Induced Migration from Russia to Neighboring Countries and Access to Resources through Mutual Support Infrastructures
Mark SIMON, Bielefeld University, Germany
Transnationally Segmented Labor Markets in the European Union – the Case of the Meat Processing Industry and Agriculture in the Euregio Region Rhine-Waal
Ingrid JUNGWIRTH, Germany; Marius GLASSNER, Rhine-Waal University of applied Sciences, Germany
Navigating Access: Lived Experiences of Ukrainian Refugee Women in Germany’s Social and Healthcare Services
Dobrovolski EMILIE, Institute for Employment Research, Germany
See more of: RC02 Economy and Society
See more of: Research Committees
<< Previous Session | Next Session >>