Social dialogue in times of crisis

Historically, researchers have linked the Nordic labour markets to strong co-operation between the social partners – employers' associations, trade unions and the state – which are able to handle crises and tensions. High collective bargaining coverage and universal welfare state schemes have contributed to institutional stability and enabled continuous adaptation and change. Nevertheless, in the wake of, for example, the corona crisis and the ongoing digital transformation, research as well as political and public debates have indicated that we may be facing new types of critical challenges in the Nordic labour markets.

Several current crises seem to be global – e.g. climate change, digitalisation, the corona crisis – which makes it difficult for actors at the national level to deal with the consequences on their own. Some crises also seem to occur at a certain time (e.g. the financial crisis and the corona crisis), while others have been here for years and will last far into the future (e.g. climate change), although they may shift gears along the way and interact with other types of crises. One might ask how today's crises and associated developments are affecting the Nordic labour markets and Nordic social dialogue. Can the institutional basis for adaptation to various crises still provide stability and flexibility to meet future challenges in the Nordic countries?

Social dialogue during crises

The articles in the special issue are divided into two sets of studies: The first set of studies focuses on how crises affect social dialogue at central and local level and structural developments in the labour market in the Nordic models. In order to study structural change, it is crucial to understand the institutional and more general implications of crises for the labour market regimes in the Nordic countries. Among other things, it states: in the article 'Nordic aid packages and atypical workers: Towards expanded universalism and institutional inequalities', in which Trine P. Larsen and Anna Ilsøe examine whether the corona crisis has triggered changes to social protection in the Nordic countries.

The emergence of digital work platforms and its consequences are also addressed in the special issue. In the article 'Hybrid Work Patterns: A Latent Class Analysis of Platform Workers in Denmark', Jonas Hulgård Kristiansen, Trine Pernille Larsen and Anna Ilsøe take a closer look at who works on these platforms, their affiliation to the ordinary labour market etc.

The impact of crises on the workplace

The second set of articles explores workplace-specific consequences of crises. The studies examine topics such as work environment, workplace relations, social interaction and learning opportunities. These studies cannot be generalized without reservation for different types of crises and companies. Nevertheless, the studies show that it is important to understand the dynamics of relations in the workplace if we are to understand the implications that a crisis may have for the psychosocial work environment, social interaction and learning opportunities in the Nordic countries.

Finally, Anna Ilsøe and Pelle Korsbæk Sørensen reflect in a feature article on how a crisis such as the corona crisis affects the way research is conducted. The feature article concludes the special issue by describing how researchers increased the speed of their research processes during the corona crisis, which promotes interdisciplinary sociology with implications for methods, theory, analysis and societal impact.

Read the full introduction to the special issue 'Nordic Working Life and Social Dialogue in Times of Crises. Introduction to the Special Issue' by Bertil Rolandsson and Anna Ilsøe.

Topics