The network has a special stream at the 2023 International Labour Process Conference which will be hosted by the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow from 12th – 14th April 2023. The stream is titled Labour and/as value in the context of global crisis: ethnographic insights and invites contributions that critically engage with the concept of value and its relation to labour, work and workers. As Anthropology of Labour Network, we seek to contribute from our ethnographic analysis and theorisations around value and labour as processes embedded in social relations. We also aim at engaging with different theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary approaches, allowing reflections that expand the theory of value beyond the circuit of capital, into other realms of social life, including activities that have often been perceived as not being part of the capitalist mode of production and consequently devalued, such as reproductive, informal, and emotional forms lf labour. Critically reflecting on and interrogating the concept of value, its relation to labour, and how different forms of labour (and other human activities) are valued can constructively inform discussions around issues such as fairness, decent conditions of work, inequality, and commodification.
The ILPC is one of the largest international conferences, which focuses on studies of labour, work and employment, and industrial relations. However, the fields of labour studies, industrial relations, and related disciplines have not engaged in serious dialogue with anthropology and its theoretical and empirical contributions. This special streams is an opportunity for the Network, and anthropologist who focus on labour and work, to enter into and engage in dialogue with other disciplines.