Labor Exploitation, Rights, and Health in Contemporary Society

The monographic issue of the journal Welfare & Ergonomia 1/2024 dedicated to “Labor Exploitation, Rights, and Health in Contemporary Society” (Franco Angeli) offers reflections on the labor market and its evolution in contemporary forms of exploitation and marginalization.

The 10 contributions presented allow this phenomenon to be framed in terms of a restructuring of Western society itself, of the social pact that constitutes and shapes it, and of the specific type of capitalism that organizes it. As the volume editor, Marco Omizzolo, emphasizes, labor exploitation can no longer be considered exceptional, “that is, as a malfunction of a labor market that actually works. No, on the contrary, all analyses that encompass different sectors of the labor market, from logistics to agricultural work to domestic care work, reflect—also through life stories—on working conditions systematically based on marginality, vulnerability, and exploitation, which also embrace a dramatically growing number of people, workers, both quantitatively speaking.”