Specifically, the focus is on continuity and transformation in national, European, transnational and global orders of the economy, work and society. Particular attention is paid to the regulations, norms and practices of work-related actors and the way these are interconnected to broader issues of inequality (e.g. income). Currently, research is focused on the reconfiguration of work, the economy and society through transnational platforms, relations between employers, workers and para-state organisations, firm-level and sector-wide employment and training structures, gender relations and work-related migration.         

Besides empirical research in the above-mentioned fields, members of the Department are involved in the further development of theoretical concepts to contribute to a better understanding of the transformation of markets, organisations, work and employment. This work is based on sociological theories of markets, organisations, work and employment as well as concepts from social theory (e.g. Norbert Elias’ figurational sociology and Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory).