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Upcoming Events

Seminar Series

The DIGCLASS seminar series is expected to facilitate the exchange of cutting-edge ideas and debates between JRC researchers and social science academics from research institutions worldwide.

With the DIGCLASS seminar series, we want to push this discussion beyond the boundaries of the JRC community by attracting external scholars, policy-makers and a general audience.

Areas of interest:

  • Social inequality, social stratification
  • Labour economics
  • Political economy, political behaviour

Seminars take place once monthly on Tuesdays from 15.00 to 16.00 CET in a fully open-access online format. We will publish further details on sessions’ access and contents below and on the JRC EU Science Hub events in due time. 

If you want to subscribe to the DIGCLASS seminar series mailing list to stay tuned, please drop us an email to JRC-CAS-DIGCLASSatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (subject: Enquirey%20on%20DIGCLASS%20%28JRC%20sub-site%29) (JRC-CAS-DIGCLASS[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

    Real Utopias for a Social Europe

    Real Utopias for a Social Europe consists of a series of technical debate-type workshops on various bold and innovative social policy proposals. Leading academic experts and policy-makers assess and discuss the feasibility, distributional impact, costs, and scalability of these policy proposals through evidence-based on various designs such as pilots, field experiments, microsimulation exercises, and real policy experiences. The objective is to bolster a hivemind that can provide scientifically rigorous yet creative tools to tackle growing socioeconomic inequalities and the green transition in the context of major social transformations ahead.

    Redistributing Power and Workplace Democracy

    The third online workshop in the series will focus on Redistributing Power and Workplace Democracy. This event will bring together specialists from diverse fields, delving into key areas such as participatory management and co-determination, the interplay of platform cooperativism and the gig economy, and the emerging field of algorithmic democracy. This event aligns with the European Commission's goal of fostering equitable work environments.

    Working Time Reduction and the Four-Day Week

    The second workshop in the series addressed Working Time Reduction and the Four-Day Week, which took place online on 27th-28th October. This high-level event brought together selected experts to discuss the pros and cons of these measures, and their potential social, environmental and economic impacts from a policy-oriented and evidence-based point of view.

    Universal Benefits: Universal Inheritance and Basic Income

    The first workshop in the series addressed two types of universal benefits, namely universal inheritance (UI) and universal basic income (UBI). This high-level event, with more than 40 participants, brought together 30 high-profile international experts on different aspects of such policies. This workshop closely fits the European Commission’s priority of dealing with an economy that works for people.

    Thematic Workshops

    Thematic workshops on innovative contributions to social stratification and inequality research in the context of the digital revolution.

    Social Class Analysis in the Digital Age - New Approaches and Perspectives

    This international workshop was held at JRC-Seville on 4-5 December 2023, aiming to explore innovative contributions to social stratification and inequality research in the context of the digital revolution. The workshop comprised interdisciplinary academics and cutting-edge research on the following themes: Class measurement, Class inequality, Intergenerational transmission mechanisms, Technology and labour market inequality, Technology and politics, Policy responses, and Political behaviour. Click the link above for further details on the programme and watch the recorded webstreaming.

    Social Implications of Medically Assisted Reproduction

    This workshop brought together interdisciplinary experts working on Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) and its implications for fertility, socioeconomic inequality, child development, ethics and regulation. The workshop took place on 24th November and 25th November.

    Kick-off Workshop

    The Kick-off Workshop of the Social Classes in the Digital Age (DIGCLASS) project was held on the 21-22 of September 2021. The kick-off workshop was a high-level event with more than 100 participants that brought together 13 high-profile international experts on social inequality from different social science disciplines to discuss technological change and inequality, two topics directly under the European Commission’s priorities. The objective was to generate synergies with leading experts and institutions globally on these two key areas to feed the policy process relevant for the Commission. The programme was structured around four overarching questions: 1. Are existing systems of social protection adequate for the digital age? 2. Are contemporary societies still class-based? 3. How are digital technologies transforming the social structure? 4. Does socioeconomic position still drive political outcomes? Each of the questions were addressed by three to four experts in a round table format, offering a stimulating debate on the implications of technological change for social inequalities and aiming to promote collaboration between the CAS and leading experts and institutions globally, in order to help shape and inform policy making of the Commission.

    Past Events