Work and Inequality in a Global Economy

The course will provide participants with high-level research-based and policy-relevant training in the areas of employment relations, social inequalities, and accountability in a global economy. This training will rely on critical analysis of cutting-edge interdisciplinary scholarship and instruction by leading regional and international scholars and practitioners.

The summer school will instruct participants using innovative and diverse teaching methods, including pre-course e-workshops and discussion forums, expert-led round-table discussions, guest lectures, intensive policy-related debates, and one-on-one research-based workshops with instructors. The unique design of the course will contribute to participants' learning as well as model innovative techniques that they can incorporate into their courses at their home institutions.

The course is organized around three analytic modules focused on emergent labor practices, social inequalities, and regulatory mechanisms in the global economy. Participants will be expected to critically evaluate competing policy approaches to work and labor in post-socialist societies in a series of short papers. The final project will require students to carry out a mini-research project to advance their understanding of a policy-relevant issue to address emerging work-related inequalities in the global economy.

In addition to lectures and seminars organized by academic specialists in these fields, the course will expose students to roundtable discussions and debates among policymakers and practitioners, as well as site visits in and around Budapest. The course directors have contacts throughout the employment law, regulatory, and employment fields in Hungary due to an ongoing research project. These networks will be drawn upon to facilitate learning related to opportunities and constraints on employment relations in the post-socialist context.