44th International Labour Process Conference - Labour Process in a Time of Transformation
ILPC 2026 will take place during a period of climate breakdown, authoritarian politics, technological uncertainty, and war. The implications for the workplace are profound. The next few years, globally, will see challenges to principles of diversity, equity and inclusion at work; to notions of sustainability; to principles of worker voice; new restrictions on and new drivers of labour mobility; as well as a confluence of geopolitical and climate turbulence increasingly encapsulated in the neologism “polycrisis”. For workers this could mean greater insecurity; threats to autonomy, pay and status; and diminished voice and protections against managerial control.
However, while it is tempting to propose a melancholy frame for the conference, we will take a different approach. Periods of crisis and chaos are also periods of transformation, and there is always an opportunity to influence the direction of travel. We also need to be attentive to continuities, which are often neglected in favour of focus on more dramatic epochal shifts. Labour process scholarship provides a means of understanding these problems from the perspective of the workplace, and can also help illuminate alternative possible futures. What is the role of labour process theory in helping us see beyond populist politics and wider societal failures?
At ILPC Leeds 2026 we will reflect on transformation. How can labour process scholarship point towards different futures for working life?
The call for papers and abstract submissions will be available soon