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

This session aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the evolving landscape of labor action, highlighting the interplay between traditional and emerging forms of workers’ mobilization. We seek to contribute to the current scholarly debate on labor actions by bridging literature from subdisciplines such as economic sociology – often focused on union-led strikes at the workplace - and political sociology and contentious politics focused on actions and actors outside the workplace.

We invite scholars to submit their work to this session and welcome submissions exploring topics like:

• Repertoires of labor activism (economic and non-economic strikes, individual and collective resistance, etc.), their targets, claims, and outcomes.
• The mobilizing role of unions and non-union organizations, including coalition-building with other movements and political groups, exploring the rise of “social movement unionism”.
• The effect of gender, race, and ethnicity on workers’ collective action.
• The effect of sociopolitical dynamics (e.g., political opportunity structures, frames, and organizational characteristics) on transnational, national, and local labor actions

We seek conceptual and theoretically informed empirical studies employing diverse methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods). Submissions can focus on single case studies or comparative analyses.