Garsten, Christina (Department of Social Anthropology)

Social dialogue, employment and territories. Towards a European politics of capabilities

2012-12-18T14:18:29Z

The research is focused on the transformation of work in firms and territories. By a sound empirical analysis centred on the concept of capabilities, it will design the characteristics of a European politics aimed at promoting capabilities. By orchestrating work between researchers and social actors, the research will produce theoretical knowledge, regional and firm analysis, policy lessons for employment, social protection and the development of social dialogue in Europe

Dialogue Social Europeen

2013-05-18T02:00:27Z

Resources, rights and capabilities; in search of social foundations for Europe

2012-12-18T14:18:34Z

The promotion of individual and collective capabilities underpins CAPRIGHT’s research on the relations between labour markets, employment and welfare regimes. This agenda creates a positive dynamic between social justice and economic efficiency, the vital foundations for a knowledge economy. The important priority is to allow every person, where ever she lives and works, to develop her own future with the resources that are available to her. What possibilities are open to her? What effective freedom of choice does she possess? What obstacles impede her plans? What forms of public action, subject to what types of public debate, are available to overcome these restrictions? How can public policy overcome inequalities of capabilities? What political procedures can Europe employ to push Member states in the direction of such change? CAPRIGHT integrates two approaches into one process: one addresses resource regimes, the other inequalities in capabilitijavascript:document.MainForm.PrevLanguage.value='3';document.MainForm.ListChar.value=document.MainForm.ObjectName.value.substr(0,1);document.MainForm.Function.value='SaveCloseObject';document.MainForm.submit(); Save and closees, developed from the work of Amartya Sen. This involves disciplines of anthropology, economics, history, law, political science and philosophy, sociology. CAPRIGHT will create a critical mass of empirical research in three key areas: gender equality, professional development and work restructuring. It will contribute to the creation, on several levels, of public spaces within which processes of deliberative social democracy can address these issues. Each area is analysed from three entry points, offering empirical evidence “from the bottom up” within a WP: the actual trajectories of people’s working live; situated public action; social dialogue and European policy development. To ensure a unified approach, from the hypotheses to the conclusions, the work is framed on the one hand by theoretical work and on the other by the elucidation of the political agenda. CAPRIGHT mobilises 22 partners from 13 European countries: 10 MS, 2 CC, 1 AC. Most of the partners are already deeply involved in European research and politics.

STINT Institutional Grants: Processes of organizing the shaping and reshaping of control, knowledge and agency

2012-12-18T14:19:41Z

Cooperation with Olivier Borraz, Centre de Sociologie des Organisations, Sciences Po, France.

Social affairs - Governance for a normative economy

2012-12-18T14:19:41Z

Economic rationality and social responsibility seldom go hand in hand. The growth of a global economy has placed this conflict in the limelight. The difficulties of governing market players through political means and at a national level have stimulated discussions around the ways in which market forces are to be regulated, and by whom.

The project investigates how new forms of governance for a normative economy - an economic order in which consideration of social, ethical and environmental factors are an integrated part of corporate strategic activity - are created in a system of fragmented political authority. More precisely, models for corporate social responsibility that are expressed through codes of conduct, norms, policies and other voluntary agreements between parties are studied. How is authority for new forms of governance for social responsibility created and maintained? On what grounds are they given legitimacy? The measuring of social responsibility through rating and ranking procedures will also be studied, with a focus on how authority to rank and rate is achieved and how these technologies are given legitimacy. The growth of this private authority structure also raises fundamental questions about the relation between states and civil society and about democratic accountability. The project investigates what multilateral partnerships between private and public organizations and the shift from a state-centric system of governance to pluralistic forms of governance may mean in terms of democratic legitimacy. The project engages researchers and doctoral students from the disciplines of social anthropology, political science, economic history and business management.

Local Worlds of Social Cohesion. The Local Dimension of Integrated Social and Employment Policies

2013-04-26T08:46:31Z

Radical changes in the local governance of social cohesion in many Member States of the European Union are the focus of LOCALISE’s research on the organisational challenges of an integrated social and employment policy. The multiple needs of the most vulnerable groups in society require the integration of formerly separate policy fields. This creates positive dyna-mics for reducing social inequalities, fostering social cohesion and enhancing labour market participation – the crucial objectives of the new EU2020 strategy. Local activation policies are framed by Member States’ policies and patterns of
regional inequality. But the shift of competences to the local level, the involvement of new actors and a closer collaboration of different agencies create new demands in inter-organisational coordination. How do different institutional contexts influence local worlds of social cohesion? How do local actors deal with the conflicts and dilemmas caused by integrated social cohesion policies? What impact do these policies have on social inequality and the conception of social citizenship? LOCALISE addresses these questions by integrating multiple disciplines, and partners experienced in European and Social
Policy research. A common theoretical and methodologi-cal approach guides the research in each work package. LOCALISE will create a critical mass of research in three key areas: we first analyse how European programmes, national gover-nance patterns and the regional socio-economic context affect the local governance of social cohesion. Secondly, LOCALISE studies how 18 local entities in six European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden and United Kingdom) cope with the challenges of an integrated social cohesion policy. Finally, we analyse the impact of these policies on social
inequalities, citizenship and the most vulnerable social groups.

Improving the State of the World: World Economic Forum and the Politics of Global Economy

2012-12-18T14:21:46Z

Improving the State of the World: World Economic Forum and the politics of economy Abstract Economic worlds are social worlds. Modern states with capitalist economies create institu-tional conditions for stable markets. In contemporary world, states are still important market creators, but globalization processes have led to other actors becoming increasingly active in the forming of the rules and institutions of global markets. The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a pivotal example of such actors. The purpose of the current project is therefore to study WEF and its attempts to establish power and influence in order to organize global mar-kets. Three major research questions are posed: How are political positions formed and articulated in the World Economic Forum? How does the World Economic Forum exercise power and influence? What role does the World Economic Forum play in the organization of global markets? The research will be conducted by way of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork at events and activities organized by the Forum and interviews with WEF employees, as well as analysis of WEF-related texts of various kinds. Analyses will be conducted from an organizational per-spective, focusing on how WEF attempts to establish authority and exercise influence in the global domain where it is active.