Navigation – Plan du site

AccueilActualitésAppels à contribution - ouvertsCal 109: "Contemporary" Worlds of...

Cal 109: "Contemporary" Worlds of Work in Latin America

Call for Papers "Contemporary" Worlds of Work in Latin America

Coordinators:
Mariana Busso – Laboratorio de Estudios en Economía y Sociología del Trabajo (LESET-IdIHCS, CONICET-UNLP, Argentina) – marianabusso@yahoo.com
Delphine Mercier – Maison Française d’Oxford (CNRS-MEAE) and Laboratoire d’Économie et de Sociologie du Travail (LEST-CNRS-AMU) – delphine.mercier@cnrs.fr

Overview:
The contemporary worlds of work have undergone significant transformations, disruptions, and continuities over the past decades. One of the most striking continuities is undoubtedly the central role of work in the life paths of individuals and the trajectories of societies. Constantly subject to change and to technical and social innovations, the worlds of work remain a striking reflection of lifestyles and social structures. This is particularly so in Latin America, a region marked by social inequalities, where fragmentation and heterogeneity are factors on which the labour market was founded. These characteristics have spread to various sectors of activity since the beginning of the 21st century and have worsened since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There has been a clear increase in the volume of precarious and undeclared work across the region, but the first decades of this century have also seen the emergence of a new phenomenon linked to the proliferation of the “working poor”. These are individuals whose income, even though they hold full-time registered and salaried jobs, fails to keep them above the poverty threshold. This situation, together with the substantial increase in the number of workers in the so-called “popular economy” has developed in parallel with the growth of a certain number of well-known large corporations in the region. These companies have increased their profit margins through the incorporation of technology and integration into the global market, thereby further weakening traditional labour market structures. These phenomena are indissociable from the exacerbation of inequalities in the Latin American world of work. In this regard, this issue aims to explore the proliferation of the “working poor,” informal labour, and the popular economy within highly unequal societies.

  • 1 Platform economies considered as digital intermediation environments for the marketing of goods or (...)

In this context, the advances in artificial intelligence and the spread of the model of so-called “platform economies”1 also play a crucial role in this part of the world. Representing a new technological revolution, these developments not only potentially threaten a wide range of jobs (as highlighted in various reports by multilateral organizations such as the OECD, the IMF and the World Bank), but also promise to transform the very concept of work as we know it today.

Studies have shown that the jobs most easily replaced by technologization and artificial intelligence are those involving routine tasks carried out by low-skilled workers. However, while these processes may lead to job destruction, they are also said to entail the creation of new jobs and the transformation of others. At the same time, several studies have indicated the uneven impact of platform economies on local labour markets. It is therefore important to distinguish between the opportunities and constraints associated with the different types of platforms, which may concern physical services (logistics, distribution) or virtual services (IT, design, translation, etc.), the latter being deliverable by remote and/or home-based work.

Changes in regulatory frameworks are accompanying a contemporary discourse that is increasingly present and visible, one that promotes entrepreneurship and a neoliberal rationale. All these factors contribute to and even reinforce the development of platform economies, with distinct characteristics depending on the country or region.

Thus the digitalization of work practices, the rise of digital intermediation platforms, the “pluralization” of employment norms through the increasing use of new legal forms of employment, the growing emphasis on entrepreneurship and the promotion of start-ups form another of the themes we propose to explore in this issue.

Furthermore, we observe that there is a growing disconnection between labour and the production areas where transnational companies are established. This disconnection stems from various upheavals since the 1970s, associated with an International Division of Labour organized by multinational firms and by states. This segmentation was again disrupted in the 1990s by the establishment of zones, territories, and customs-free concessions designed to provide access to resources and cheap skilled labour. These zones permit the intensive exploitation of resource-rich areas and facilitate the circulation of the goods produced and processed. They consist of either production areas or industrial parks benefitting from de facto extraterritoriality where various tax exemption regimes are in force.

In the 1990s, with the parallel development of IT and digital technology, and therefore the exchange of digital data, there was a shift in the concept and mode of production, embodied in management tools that radically transformed the organization, control, and content of work and labour activities... We had moved right into the phase of management by “governance,” distancing the various layers of the organization (parent company, production facility, financial division, etc.) from one another, resulting in stratified enterprises with production units scattered across free zones and tax-free enclaves. In the face of this constant movement - internationalization on the one hand, and relocation on the other - labour markets in Latin America underwent major upheavals that weakened both the formal and informal sectors and led to the creation of various new forms of employment. The third theme of the issue will therefore focus on the relocation versus the internationalization - or even the deterritorialization - of labour regimes.

We note that (1) the increase in the working poor, (2) the relocation of skilled labour (a return to domestic labour) and (3) the deterritorialization of production areas to low-wage zones have all contributed to the weakening of labour relations.

There is a real dilution and transformation of professional relationships, resulting in direct consequences for organizations and collective mobilizations. This will be the focus of the fourth thematic area. In this regard, we are interested in the impact that the transformation of labour relations has had on the collective organization of the workforce, in a region where worker mobilization and social and trade union organizations are still omnipresent on the political scene (particularly in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, among others). Traditional trade unions have perceived these transformations as a challenge and have responded in various ways, while at the same time, new forms of organization have emerged among precarious and/or informal workers and those in the popular economy.

We therefore invite authors to submit articles that contribute to understanding the different realities that make up the world of work in Latin America, a region steeped in multiple social inequalities which were exacerbated during the pandemic and which appear to be growing even further in the light of the shift to the right in recent years. Contributions are welcome that address different sectors of activity (industry, logistics, commerce, etc.), reflect multiple worlds of work and relate to one or more of the four central themes of the issue:

  1. The proliferation of the “working poor”, informal labour, and the popular economy in highly unequal societies.

  2. The digitalization of work practices, the development of digital intermediation platforms, the “pluralization” of employment norms through the increasing use of new legal forms of employment, the growing emphasis on entrepreneurship and start-up promotion, and the outsourcing of service tasks which destabilize labour environments.

  3. The relocation versus the internationalization - or even the deterritorialization - of labour regimes.

  4. The end of professional labour relations, questions of collective mobilization at work, and the renewal of labour relations.

Submission of articles: https://ojs.openedition.org/index.php/cal

Deadline for submission: November 20, 2025

Notes

1 Platform economies considered as digital intermediation environments for the marketing of goods or services, connecting customers, workers, and merchandise.

Haut de page
Rechercher dans OpenEdition Search

Vous allez être redirigé vers OpenEdition Search