Work and Vulnerability in Times of Polycrises

Jacek Burski; Ewa Giermanowska; Agata Krasowska

doi:10.18778/1733-8069.21.4.07

Authors

Jacek Burski University of Wrocław, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9987-2420
Ewa Giermanowska University of Warsaw, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3169-9841
Agata Krasowska University of Wrocław, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6675-445X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8069.21.4.07

Keywords:

work, vulnerability, polycrisis, social reproduction

Abstract

The article is an introduction to thematic issue and as such explores the intersections of work and vulnerability in times of polycrises. It examines how market transformations, migration, war, and the COVID-19 pandemic jointly reshape contemporary labor and workers’ lived experiences. Drawing on the framework of social vulnerability, the issue links individual precarity to structural inequalities and welfare retrenchment, emphasizing the state’s role in protection and inclusion through the European Pillar of Social Rights. The concept of a polycrisis highlights how multiple disruptions – pandemic, war, and economic instability – mutually reinforce each other, leading to a crisis of social reproduction. The collected articles analyse diverse cases: the professional redefinition and social boundaries of care-related occupations, marketization, precarious employment, and biographical experiences of inequality. Collectively, they show that crises have become enduring contexts structuring work, identity, and social belonging, offering a deeper sociological understanding of vulnerability in the contemporary world of labor.

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Author Biographies

Jacek Burski, University of Wrocław, Poland

Assistant professor in the Department of the Sociology of Work and Economic Sociology, University of Wrocław. His research interests include the sociology of work, biographical research and healthcare professions.

Ewa Giermanowska, University of Warsaw, Poland

Associate professor at the Institute of Applied Social Sciences, University of Warsaw. Her research interest include the sociology of work and public policy analysis, particularly in the areas of youth employment and disability.

Agata Krasowska, University of Wrocław, Poland

Assistant professor in the Department of the Sociology of Work and Economic Sociology, University of Wrocław. Her cresearch interest include the sociology of work, the sociology of mental health, and biographical research.

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