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Der Beitrag beleuchtet den Einsatz digitaler worker voice tools in globalen Wertschöpfungsnetzwerken (global value networks, GVNs) und diskutiert die Folgen für Arbeiter*innen im Globalen Süden. Anhand einer quantifizierenden Auswertung der Webseiten von digitalen Kommunikations- und Partizipationstools sowie semi-strukturierten Interviews geben die Autor*innen zunächst einen allgemeinen empirischen Überblick über das schnell wachsende Feld dieser digitalen Tools. In der Analyse zeigen sie im Anschluss, dass sich nicht einfach ein Feld neuer digitaler Anwendungen entwickelt, die in bestehende Monitoringverfahren integriert werden, sondern dass es durchaus Unterschiede in der Struktur, dem Aufbau, der Zielsetzung und Verwendung zwischen diesen Tools gibt. Eine zentrale Unterscheidung lässt sich dabei zwischen profitorientierten und gemeinnützigen Tools treffen, deren Logik auch von einer unterschiedlichen Entstehungsgeschichte geprägt wird. Dies hat wiederum auch einen Einfluss darauf, ob diese Tools überhaupt Ansätze für Mobilisierung, Organisierung und Teilhabe von Arbeiter*innen bieten.

This special issue will focus on processes and mechanisms of the making and unmaking of alliances among different grassroots, civil society, and social movement organizations. The formation of alli...

Public policies implemented to flatten the curve of COVID-19 infections created unprecedented challenges for social movements. Most striking was the de facto temporary suspension of the right to as...

This special issue contributes to the emerging literature on digitalization and its impact on work and workers in global systems of production. Three key themes are featured in the collection of papers. They are on the relationship between the use of digital communication technologies and power relationships, working conditions of online workers or crowd-workers, and shifting geographies of production. The papers also largely focus on the global South, contributing to research on digitalization and labour which has thus far tended to examine large and higher income countries mainly in the global North. This introductory article expands on and situates the papers broadly within the literature on digitalization and labour and within the three themes more specifically, and discusses their implications for future research.

While there are heated debates about how digitalization affects production, management and consumption in the context of global value chains, less attention is paid to how workers use digital technologies to organize and formulate demands and hence exercise power. This paper explores how workers in supplier factories in global value chains use different digital tools to exercise and enhance their power resources to improve working conditions. Combining the global value chain framework and concepts from labour sociology on worker power, the paper uses examples from the garment industry in Honduras and the footwear industry in China to show how workers used old and new digital tools to create and enhance associational and networked powers. Digital tools were used by workers and their allies in the global value chain to lower costs of communication, increase information exchange and participate in transnational campaigns during labour struggles vis-à-vis firms and governments in structurally and politically repressive environments. The paper contributes to our understanding of how workers use of digital technologies to exercise and combine different resources of power in online and offline actions in global value chains, as well as how they are confronted by new dimensions of constrains which include digital surveillance and control by the state.

Dieser Beitrag präsentiert erste Einblicke in eine Organisationsbefragung zur Auswirkung der COVID-19 Pandemie auf Vereine und Initiativen in Deutschland. Die Studie unterstreicht, dass die Zivilgesellschaft mit großer Wucht getroffen wurde und weitreichende, negative Auswirkungen der Pandemie zu verzeichnen sind. Dennoch zeigen die Ergebnisse ebenfalls, dass sich Teile der Zivilgesellschaft der pandemischen Entwicklung anpassen und ihre Handlungsfähigkeit aufrechterhalten konnten. Besonderes Augenmerk wird in dem Beitrag auf Muster der (De-)Aktivierung sowie die Digitalisierung zivilgesellschaftlicher Akteure in der Krise gelegt. This article presents preliminary findings of a survey conducted among civil society organizations in Germany on the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this research document widespread and profound negative consequences. Yet, the data also shows that parts of civil society were able to adapt their activities to the pandemic situation and maintained their ability to act. In particular, this article focusses on patterns of (de-)activation and the digitalization of civil society actors during the crisis.

Offentliche Soziologie ist in aller Munde: Auf internationalen Kongressen, Tagungen und in zahlreichen Publikationen (Aulenbacher, Burawoy, Dorre, & Sittel 2017, Burawoy 2015, Selke 2019) wird uber das Verhaltnis von Wissenschaft und Praxis und die gesellschaftliche Relevanz von Forschung diskutiert. Die Soziologie als Gesellschaftswissenschaft hatte von Anbeginn an auch immer gesellschaftsgestaltenden Anspruch, sodass diese Debatte nicht neu ist (Bauman & May 2001).

Der digitale Wandel macht auch vor der Wissenschaft nicht Halt. Er geht mit einer „digitalisiert erweiterten Wissenschaftspraxis bzw. e-Science“ einher (vgl. Heidkamp & Kergel 2016). Damit verbunden steigen auch die Anforderungen an die akademische Medienkompetenz von Hochschullehrenden und Studierenden (vgl. Reinmann, Hartung & Florian 2014, S. 321f.). Versteht man die Universitat unter anderem auch als Vorbereitung auf das auseruniversitare Berufsleben, so sollte die Hochschulbildung mit digitalen Lehr-Lernsettings auf eine Arbeitswelt 4.0 vorbereiten (vgl. Winde 2017).

As an Introduction to the Debate section that follows, this article develops the concept of ‘Networks of Labour Activism’ (NOLA) as a distinct, and important, aspect of cross-border, cross-organizational mobilization of workers, trade unions and other organizations and groups. NOLAs are seen as different from traditional labour activist networks in that they are neither solely connected to the position of labour in production processes, nor wholly reliant on the soft and discursive power of advocacy coalitions. The authors understand NOLAs to be characterized by the interaction of different types of labour rights, social movement and community organizations, joining forces in complex forms of strategizing vis-a-vis multiple targets. Thus, cross-boundary strategizing (across organizational and geographical divides) is seen as a basic characteristic of NOLAs. The authors argue that NOLAs continue to be deeply embedded in political-economic contexts of the state and global value chains, and alliance formation reflects the peculiar vulnerabilities and constraints resulting from this embeddedness. This Introduction draws on multiple studies of NOLAs from around the world, but its main focus is on some of those Asian countries which are at the centre of global supply chain capitalism and labour exploitation, and which have become the laboratory for new forms of networked worker agency and activism.

This contribution discusses trajectories of labour power in the making. Taking a practice theory perspective on power, and focusing on the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, the author asks how Bangladeshi trade unions are attempting to use changes in the industrial landscape after the factory collapse of Rana Plaza in 2013 to constitute different power sources. The article challenges assumptions in power resource theories that associational, institutional and social-cultural power are pre-existing factors, arguing that trade unions have to co-construct and enact those power sources in order for them to become meaningful. The article contributes to the debate on Networks of Labour Activism (NOLA) by showing that networked interactions with global unions and other labour support organizations help to construct power in an incremental way through information sharing, claim reframing, increasing social recognition, and the construction of a ‘shadow of protection’ for trade unions. But it also points out new limitations resulting from managerial and political resistance, which aims to contain and reverse the growing power of labour. The Bangladesh Accord is a double-edged sword: on the one hand it provides unions with new opportunities for developing strategic capabilities, while on the other hand it is used by powerful domestic actors to discredit trade unions and mobilize workers against the constraints of the Accord.

This article presents a novel analytical framework to study transnational activism in the context of today's international governance architecture. While there is a considerable amount of literatur...

Social movements have become increasingly important in the regulation of working conditions in a context where the intensification of global economic integration, the consolidation of power in multinational enterprises, increased financialization and marketization, and recurrent economic crisis have undermined the capacity of trade unions to co-determine working conditions in transnational businesses. With unions and industrial modes of worker participation being under severe pressure, social movements and civil society organizations receive increasing attention as new actors in industrial relations.

Der Beitrag schlagt die Akteurs-Attributions-Netzwerkanalyse (AAN) als einen neuen Ansatz zur Erfassung transnationaler Felder vor, der es erlaubt, bestimmte soziale Beziehungen – namlich Verantwortungsbeziehungen – in transnationalen politischen Feldern sichtbar zu machen. Wir argumentieren, dass die Akteurs-Attributions-Netzwerkanalyse als quantifizierendes, diskursanalytisches Verfahren neue Moglichkeiten fur die Abbildung der Strukturierung transnationaler politischer Felder eroffnet, da damit die Inhalte und Arten von Attributionen systematisch untersucht und die zu Grunde liegenden Verantwortungsbeziehungen sichtbar gemacht werden konnen. Wir leisten damit einen Beitrag zu der netzwerkanalytischen Erweiterung von Feldtheorien, indem wir transnationale Feldtheorien um das theoretisch-analytische Instrumentarium der Akteurs-Attributions-Netzwerkanalyse (AAN) erganzen und politische Kommunikation in Form von Verantwortungszuschreibungen fur die Herausbildung transnationaler politischer Felder in das Zentrum der Theorieentwicklung und empirischen Messung stellen. Wir veranschaulichen unsere Argumentation an dem Beispiel des internationalen Diskurses zur Umsetzung globaler Arbeitsstandards in Bangladesch, da nach den Fabrikunglucken Tazreen und Rana Plaza eine neue Debatte uber politische Verantwortlichkeiten entfachte, die, wie wir zeigen, zu einer Re-strukturierung des transnationalen Feldes und einer Neuverteilung von Verantwortungen fuhrte.

The chapter discusses the dual nature of corporate transparency politics as a means of governing and taming corporate power and as an instrument of corporate control and profit maximization. The authors conceptualize four levels of transparency practices in global production networks, arguing that the consideration of these levels is necessary to understand the political nature of corporate transparency. As Scheper and Zajak show, these levels are relevant with regard to the wider dynamics of power relations, political conflicts and social change in global production networks because they link conflicts around corporate transparency with the broader debate about the ‘new’ political role of transnational corporations and a changing relationship between states, markets and civil society. The chapter concludes by calling for a new research agenda on transnational transparency politics, which introduces a cultural perspective on knowledge practices and links it with a political-sociological view on power and governance struggles.

In the context of continuing political, social, and economic crises, trade unions in most European countries are seen as weakened, protest as having little influence, and the solidarity between European populations as damaged. Under these circumstances, scientists and practitioners have placed hope in the cooperation of social movements and trade unions in order to revitalise trade unions and achieve common goals. However, the conditions for forming alliances between trade unions and social movement organisations have, thus far, been primarily researched, and partially theorised, from the point of view of different disciplines. In doing so, approaches that emphasise the strategic alignment with resources and context diverge from approaches that highlight the relevance and necessity of shared ideologies or identities. This contribution aims to bring existing approaches from movement and industrial relations research into dialogue with each other and calls for a further integration of both perspectives. It contributes to a more holistic understanding of joint movement and trade union action current concepts such as social movement unionism cannot provide. It uses two examples to show that instrumental, strategy-driven modes and identity-based, culturally-driven modes of cooperation are not contradictory. There are situations in which strategic decisions on resources and political influence are more decisive than ideological proximity and vice versa. These findings are of social and scientific relevance for understanding mechanisms of solidarity construction and processes of bridging differences even in increasingly fragmented and unequal societies., Im Kontext anhaltender politischer, sozialer und ökonomischer Krisen gelten Gewerkschaften in den meisten europäischen Ländern als geschwächt, Protest als wenig einflussreich und der Zusammenhalt zwischen europäischen Bevölkerungen als beschädigt. Um Gewerkschaften zu revitalisieren und gemeinsame Ziele zu erreichen, wird von Wissenschaft und Praxis Hoffnung in die Kooperation von sozialen Bewegungen und Gewerkschaften gesetzt. Allerdings wurden die Entstehungsbedingungen von Allianzen zwischen Gewerkschaften und sozialen Bewegungsorganisationen bisher nur aus der Sicht der jeweiligen Disziplin erforscht und theoretisiert. Dabei stehen sich Ansätze gegenüber, die entweder strategische Ausrichtung auf Ressourcen und Kontext betonen oder die Relevanz und Notwendigkeit geteilter Ideologien oder Identitäten hervorheben. Dieser Artikel bringt Bewegungs- und industrielle Beziehungsforschung miteinander in Dialog und fordert eine Integration beider Ansätze. Er leistet damit einen Beitrag zu einem holistischeren Verständnis von gemeinsamem Bewegungs- und Gewerkschaftshandeln, was von bisherigen Konzepten wie dem "social movement unionism" nicht geleistet wird. An zwei Beispielen zeigt der Beitrag, dass instrumentelle, strategie-zentrierte und kulturbezogene, identitätsbasierte Kooperation keine Gegensätze sind. Es gibt jedoch Situationen, in denen strategische Entscheidungen über Ressourcen und politischen Einfluss entscheidender sind als ideologische Nähe und vice versa. Erkenntnisse über Mechanismen der Solidarisierung und Überbrückung von Unterschieden sind gerade in zunehmend fragmentierten Gesellschaften von wissenschaftlicher und gesellschaftlicher Bedeutung.

Bibliographie: Zajak, Sabrina/Rehder, Britta: Editorial: Soziale Bewegungen und industrielle Beziehungen, Industrielle Beziehungen, 2-2018, S. 143-146. https://doi.org/10.3224/indbez.v25i2.01

This contribution conceptualizes the politicization of MNCs from outside – the processes by which MNCs become confronted with demands for regulation and engage in political contestation with other non-state actors. It compares two global industries, athletic footwear and toys, to show that the dynamics of politicization follow different trajectories, which are only partially to explain with structural differences across industry fields. If politicization leads to increasing political functioning of business or to a depoliticization of criticism depends to a great extend on the agency of business and their capacity to strategically counter mobilization, but also on the difficulties for activist to construct continuing collective action across a diverse range of cultural-institutional settings.

In the analytical framework, I argued that China’s internal and external strengths are relevant to transnational labor-rights activism, as the political regime might prevent domestic organizations from going transnational or because, as a global power, China uses its external strength to impact the transnational institutional environment in which activism takes place. In addition, I also put forward that domestic factors are important to understand the outcomes of transnational labor-rights activism, at the level of working conditions inside Chinese supplying factories (market pathway) and the empowerment of domestic organizations (capacity-building pathway). In this chapter, I open the black box of “China’s internal and external strength” affecting labor-rights activism. These factors include the evolution of a large rural-migrant workforce with the introduction of capitalism in China; the iterative process of labor protest and reforms of the labor law; sources of the implementation deficit of the Chinese labor law and attempts to overcome them; the development of the Chinese system of industrial relations, Chinese fragmented yet resilient version of authoritarianism, as well as the changing domestic state–society relationship. Developments of these factors help to explain why the Chinese state tends to resist certain forms of transnational activism while being responsive to others.

This article examines the neglected question of workers’ voice in the transnational governance of labour rights. While governance studies often neglect worker's agency and labour studies focus on strikes or collective bargaining, this article takes the theoretical lenses of recursivity to explore and compare new channels for worker participation that developed in the context of transnational governance schemes. Taking the example of the Fair Labor Association, a prominent multistakeholder initiative in the garment industry, the article distinguishes between three channels: workers’ surveys during audits, complaint procedures, and local grievance mediation. Despite the fact that such opportunities count as key innovations for the participation of labour in transnational governance, statistical and qualitative data from FLA's factory audits and self-conducted interviews show that locally situated actors, especially workers, are only occasionally able to make their voice heard in formally open channels. The article identifies two main sources of constraints: the first is workers’ lack of knowledge of these channels and distrust towards these procedures. This is tied, secondly, to the more fundamental problem that business continues to have interpretative power over the nature of the problems and solutions in transnational labour governance.

Zusammenfassung Am 7. und 8. Juli 2017 fand in Hamburg das zwölfte Treffen der Gruppe der zwanzig wichtigsten Industrie- und Schwellenl änder (G20) statt. Gemeinsam mit dem Forschungszentrum Ungleichheit und Sozialpolitik (Socium) und dem Göttinger Institut für Demokratieforschung (GIfD) haben Wissenschaftler_innen des Instituts für Protest- und Bewegungsforschung eine Befragung der Protestierenden für zwei zentrale Demonstrationszüge durchgeführt: die bereits für den 2. Juli, also am Wochenende vor dem offiziellen Gipfel, angesetzte Demonstration „G20 Protestwelle“, zu der vor allem Umweltorganisationen, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen und das Mobilisierungsnetzwerk Campact aufgerufen hatten, sowie die Abschlussdemonstration am 8. Juli mit dem Titel „Grenzenlose Solidarit ät statt G20!“, für die ein Bündnis linker, überwiegend antikapitalistischer Organisationen und Parteien warb. Es werden zentrale Ergebnisse der Studie dargestellt, wobei insbesondere der Frage nachgegangen wird, ob sich die Protestierenden nicht doch ähnlicher sind, als die unterschiedliche Charakterisierung der beiden Demonstrationen suggeriert. Erleben wir ein erneutes Aufleben der globalisierungskritischen Bewegung oder eher eine Parallelit ät einzelner Protestereignisse, die keinen gemeinsamen Nenner mehr besitzen? Diesen Fragen wird nachgegangen, indem die Motive, Überzeugungen und Einstellungen der Protestierenden in den Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung gestellt werden. Damit ist diese Studie auch ein Gegengewicht zu der öffentlichen Fokussierung auf die den Gipfel begleitende Gewalt.