#DW #10 NEWSLETTER
April - May 2025
Our next step forward:
Join us in signing the ASETT
Call to Action
Dear signatories of the #DemocratizingWork Manifesto,
Dear Isabelle Ferreras,
Just as we celebrated the fifth anniversary of the release of the #DemocratizingWork Manifesto (watch the online anniversary meeting), we are taking a new step forward: join us in support of ASETT Call to Action. Rooted in Spain, from Mondragon cooperative to the world, ASETT is a new initiative dedicated to scaling up the social economy as a pathway to climate and social justice. It is a field of prefigurative practices –workers and people centered, advancing democracy, and caring for our planet– which already practices the 3 principles of the #DemocratizingWork Manifesto, and which urgently needs to grow.
On May 28, the ASETT Call to Action was officially released with the support of many of us. If you haven’t done so, please consider signing it.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
The #DDDC Chair is the first University Chair established in support of #DemocratizingWork Initiative. It will bring together two dynamics: the study of the deployment of the 3 principles of the #DemocratizingWork Manifesto in the capitalist economy with the study of alternative economic practices based on the Commons, as seen in the field of the social and solidarity economy (SSE), which favour cooperative models. The aim is to explore the potential hybridities of these two dynamics, from a theoretical, analytical and practical perspective.
Created in partnership with the University of Louvain and supported by the Socio-Economy of the Commons Chair (SEC), this Chair is the winner of the WILL France 2030 project established by the University of Lille. The initiative will bring Isabelle Ferreras (FNRS/UCLouvain) to collaborate with the Lille research team, at the Centre lillois d'études et de recherches sociologiques et économiques (Clersé) and the ChairESS, and be led by and Pierre Robert.
Find out more: Project link
CALL FOR PAPERS - REMINDER
Démocratiser l’entreprise est-il en train de devenir le nouveau mantra d’une transformation radicale de la société ? Revue Internationale de l’économie sociale (RECMA), France.
La Revue internationale de l’économie sociale (RECMA) lance un appel à contributions pour un numéro spécial sur la démocratisation des entreprises, un enjeu central pour transformer durablement le travail et les organisations. Les chercheurs sont invités à explorer les pratiques, conditions, cadres théoriques, obstacles, et impacts de la démocratisation, ainsi que ses liens avec les objectifs climatiques et sociaux. Les articles, attendus pour le 15 juin 2025, pourront inclure des perspectives comparées et interdisciplinaires, couvrant notamment gouvernance, production, et redevabilité externe. Les contributions en français, anglais ou espagnol feront l’objet d’une évaluation en double aveugle. Plus d’informations : RECMA - Note aux auteurs.
Les propositions devront parvenir à l’adresse mail : contribution@agora-dodes.fr avant le 15 juin 2025. Plus de de détails sur cette page et dans l'appel à contributions!
IN THE NEWS
United Kingdom - Isabelle Ferreras with Prospect Magazine on a New Model for Workplace Democracy
In a recent article published in Prospect Magazine (2 April 2025), sociologist and political scientist Isabelle Ferreras (co-founder of #DW) argues for a democratic rethinking of corporate governance through the model of the bicameral corporation.
Isabelle Ferreras knows a lot about work. We meet at a restaurant in Oxford, near Jesus College, where she’s currently examining the potentially devastating consequences of AI for workers.
As well as her work at Oxford’s Institute for Ethics in AI, she’s also head of a commission into activating the right to workplace democracy enshrined in the Spanish constitution—testing out a political theory of work that she’s spent her career developing.
She will make the case to Spanish business that in order to avoid a Donald Trump/Javier Milei-style outcome and all the uncertainty that would generate, democracy will have to be extended into the Spanish economy.
PAST EVENTS
26-28 mai, RIUESS (Lyon Region, France) : L’ESS au travail ! Enquêter sur les pratiques de résistance, de transformation et d’émancipation
Les 24èmes rencontres du RIUESS ont proposé de porter un regard renouvelé sur l’économie sociale et solidaire (ESS) en se concentrant sur les pratiques concrètes, les expériences de terrain et les dynamiques de travail qui la traversent au quotidien. Plutôt que de débattre de définitions ou d’essences, cette édition a mis l’accent sur les enquêtes, les récits d’acteur.rices et les tensions vécues au sein des organisations de l’ESS.
L’objectif était clair : interroger la capacité de l’ESS à incarner un projet politique fondé sur l’émancipation, la transformation sociale et la résistance, dans un contexte de crise multiple. En adoptant une perspective critique et engagée, ces rencontres invitent à explorer l’ESS à travers le prisme du travail et de ses réalités.
Les thématiques abordées incluaient : Travailler et employer : frontières, sens et modes de gestion; Émanciper ou dominer : questionner le travail d’inclusion; Transformer par l’innovation, la coopération et le financement; Résister : travail politique et légitimation; Enquêter : le travail de recherche dans/sur l’ES.
MAY 26, Brussels (Belgium): Towards a Green, Just and Competitive Future? Governing the Labour and Climate Transitions through Democratization
What do fair, low-carbon futures look like—and how can we govern the transitions needed to get there?
The Final Belspo Conference of the LAMARTRA project brought together key research insights on the intersection of climate action, labour transitions, and democratic governance. As the world moves toward decarbonisation, this event explored how to ensure that the path forward creates both climate solutions and just employment opportunities.
This event presented a deep dive into how workers' participation, social dialogue, and collective visions of the future are shaping these transitions. The conference featured three plenary sessions which discussed policy briefs that can be downloaded.
MARCH 28 - The Ghost Workers: Do You Know Who’s Behind Your AI?
The WageIndicator Foundation with the support of the international #DemocratizingWork network hosted an online webinar to unpack the hidden labour behind AI, explore the artificial intelligence supply chain, and shine a light on the realities of workers who deserve to be seen. The event featured personalities such as Antonio A. Casilli (Polytechnic Institute of Paris, i3 CNRS and author of “Waiting for Robots”), Joan Kinyua (President of the Data Labellers Association,), Claartje ter Hoeven (Professor at Utrecht University), James Muldoon (Essex Business School, and Research Associate at Oxford Internet Institute) and Lydia Hamid (Project Manager for WageIndicator's Indonesia).
Click on the video to watch the recording of the online webinar:
NEW BOOK OUT
Pratique de la démocratie - Servitude volontaire, travail et émancipation (VRIN, 2025) Christophe Dejours
La démocratie n’est pas seulement une théorie du gouvernement des êtres humains. Elle est d’abord et avant tout une pratique. Et comme toute pratique elle n’est pas innée, il faut la recevoir, l’apprendre et la transmettre. Le travail vivant est d’abord une pratique requérant l’implication subjective de l’individu. Mais elle passe aussi par la formation d’un collectif uni par la référence à des règles de travail qu’il construit et réajuste inlassablement en fonction de l’évolution du contexte de la production.
L’ouvrage s’efforce de montrer que cette activité de production de règles de travail et de métier serait au principe de la formation de la coopération et de la pratique de la démocratie in statu nascendi. À condition toutefois que l’organisation du travail les favorise au lieu de les combattre systématiquement comme le fait aujourd’hui le néo-libéralisme.
D’où émerge la thèse de la centralité politique du travail : si le travail vivant peut ouvrir la voie à une démarche puissante en faveur de l’émancipation, il faut néanmoins compter avec l’ambivalence de l’être humain ordinaire qui oscille entre le désir d’émancipation et la servitude volontaire. Pour élaborer une théorie rationnelle de la pratique de la démocratie dans et par le travail, il faut connaître les ressorts psychiques de la servitude et de la domination et donc discuter l’anthropologie sur laquelle s’appuie la philosophie sociale pour penser la démocratie.
BLOG POST
April, 9. Towards a Democratic Economy (Blog of the APA, American Philosophical Association, 2025), Hannes Kuch (Goethe-University Frankfurt)
A strange cognitive dissonance is pervading our social life: we regard it as our inalienable right to govern ourselves democratically in one social sphere, while in another we suddenly surrender these very rights unquestioningly. This shift occurs the moment we step through the factory door. Both the state and the economy imply government over others, but only the former is democratic. There are in fact governance relations within corporations, as they arrogate to themselves the authority to regulate employees’ behavior, backed by a vast arsenal of sanctioning powers, from demotion to dismissal. We should not ignore this simply because we are used to conflating “government” with “state.”
SPECIAL ISSUE - SCIENTIFIC PAPERS
This special issue of the International Labour Review brings together leading voices to explore the meaning, dimensions, and implications of “sustainable work” from a social-ecological perspective. Featuring contributions from #DW Core Group Members such as Lisa Herzog (University of Groningen), Dominique Méda (Université Paris Dauphine-PSL) and Flavia Maximo (Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto). It sheds light on the political, conceptual, and practical challenges of rethinking work for a just and sustainable future. Below is a selection of key articles from the issue. The full special issue is available here: https://en.ilr-rit.org/issue/164/1
HERZOG, Lisa & ZIMMERMANN, Bénédicte (2025, 4 1). Introduction to the Special Feature “Sustainable work: Exploring the requirements of a social-ecological approach to work”. International Labour Review 164(1) doi: 10.16995/ilr.18833
The exact meaning of “sustainable work” remains unclear. Its various dimensions have so far been explored mainly in separate literatures, while the political implications of calls for “sustainable work” have received little attention. This Special Feature points to the need for an integrated approach that addresses the political conflicts raised by the concept, its different dimensions and their potential. Our introduction discusses how the various contributions to the Special Feature shed light on these different dimensions and their political nature.
This article is also available in French, in Revue internationale du Travail 164 (1), and Spanish, in Revista Internacional del Trabajo 144 (1).
HERZOG, Lisa & ZIMMERMANN, Bénédicte (2025, 4 1). Sustainable work: A conceptual map for a social-ecological approach. International Labour Review 164(1) doi: 10.16995/ilr.18834
In this article, the authors map the concept of “sustainable work” in the international policy and academic literatures. On this basis, they develop a multidimensional framework, arguing that sustainable work needs to integrate ecological and social sustainability, address work beyond paid labour, attend to local and global interdependencies and make its normative foundations explicit. Articulating these sometimes conflicting requirements in a context-sensitive way calls for a (re-)politicization of work. Following a capability-based approach, the authors argue that the literature on sustainable work should make the case for the democratization of work on multiple levels, to give workers and other stakeholders a voice.
This article is also available in French, in Revue internationale du Travail 164 (1), and Spanish, in Revista Internacional del Trabajo 144 (1).
ZBYSZEWSKA, Ania & MAXIMO, Flavia (2025, 4 1). Narratives of sustainable work in mining-affected communities: Gleaning a decolonial concept. International Labour Review 164(1) doi: 10.16995/ilr.18835
Conceptions of sustainable work advanced by United Nations bodies, including the ILO, promote the pursuit of green and inclusive economies. Through a decolonial-inspired narrative analysis of textual and audiovisual sources relating to mining-affected communities in Brazil and Canada, the authors examine how these mainstream conceptions are taken up and challenged on the ground. They analyse these narratives against several features that a decolonial conception of sustainable work might contain. While decolonial conceptions centre on care for people and the land, ecological dependence, reverence for life and reproductive work, mainstream notions of sustainable work are often instrumentalized to legitimize practices that are irreconcilable with decolonial visions.
This article is also available in French, in Revue internationale du Travail 164 (1), and Spanish, in Revista Internacional del Trabajo 144 (1).
BONNEMAIN, Antoine. (2025, 4 1). Acting on the quality of work to increase its sustainability: An occupational psychology approach.International Labour Review 164(1) doi: 10.16995/ilr.18836
This article considers sustainable work from the perspective of quality of work and its impact on workers’ health and on public health. Based on an occupational psychology social experiment within an organization, it shows how empowering workers to influence their work and the conditions in which they do it can have a major impact on public health and environmental protection. This calls for new methods of deliberation and reforms to labour law.
Original Agir sur la qualité du travail pour développer sa soutenabilité – Une approche en psychologie du travail”, Revue internationale du Travail 164 (1).Translation by the ILR editorial team. This article is also available in Spanish, in Revista Internacional del Trabajo 144 (1).
MÉDA, Dominique (2025, 4 1). Postscript: Recognizing sustainable work.International Labour Review 164(1) doi: 10.16995/ilr.18839
Battilana, Julie, Beckman, Christine, M., & Yen, Julie (2025). On Democratic Organizing and Organization Theory. Administrative Science Quarterly, 70(2), 297-327. https://doi.org/10.1177/00018392251322430 (Original work published 2025)
As threats to democracy endanger the rights and freedoms of people around the world, scholars are increasingly interrogating the role that organizations play in shaping democratic and authoritarian societies. Just as societies can be more or less democratic, so, too, can organizations. This essay, in honor of ASQ’s 70th volume, argues for a deeper focus in organizational research on the extent to which organizations themselves are democratic and the outcomes associated with these varied models of organizing.
Aguirre, Emilie, Yen, Julie, & Battilana, Julie (2025, March 31). An organizational theory of corporate law. Journal of Corporation Law. https://jcl.law.uiowa.edu/articles/2025/03/organizational-theory-corporate-law
In this article, Aguirre, Yen, and Battilana argue that modern corporate law, rooted in neoclassical economics, fails to reflect the complex realities of today’s firms and the broader crises facing society. Drawing on organization theory, they propose a more inclusive framework that recognizes multiple stakeholders—workers, the environment, and minority shareholders—as essential contributors to firms. The authors critique the power imbalances entrenched in current corporate law and call for reforms to board structures, fiduciary duties, and executive compensation to better align corporate governance with social and ecological needs.
Remember that this information-sharing tool is yours: a tool meant to disseminate recent research results, debates, and actual progress within and around our global network with Democratizing, Decommodifying, and Decarbonizing Work. Please share updates from your end. You can share your end of the news about #DemocratizingWork through filling out our form available here and via our website dedicated page.
Onward and upward,
The #DemocratizingWork Core Group,
Julie Battilana, Harvard University, Isabelle Ferreras, FNRS/University of Louvain-Harvard CLJE, Dominique Méda, University of Paris Dauphine PLS,
With Alyssa Battistoni, Barnard College, Julia Cagé, Sciences Po-Paris, Neera Chandhoke, University of Delhi, Lisa Herzog, University of Groningen,Imge Kaya-Sabanci, IE Business School, Madrid, Sara Lafuente Hernandez,University of Brussels-ETUI, Hélène Landemore, Yale University, Flavia Maximo, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil, Pavlina R. Tcherneva,Bard College-Levy Economics Institute