Zuzanna Kowalik Elected to the Board of ESA Research Network RN17
August 28 2026
In the new term, the network will be chaired by Prof. Adam Mrozowicki from the University of Wrocław and Dr. Jo Cutter from the University of Leeds. The RN17 board coordinates the network’s activities, fosters international collaboration among researchers studying work and employment, co-organises scientific sessions at future ESA conferences, and prepares the network’s mid-term conference.
The conference opened on 25 August with keynote lectures addressing major contemporary social transformations and the role of sociology in understanding them. Prof. Anna Giza drew on Karl Polanyi’s concept of disembedding to explore how market relations have progressively transformed not only work and production but also consumption and social bonds. Prof. Grzegorz Ekiert revisited Polanyi’s The Great Transformation to examine contemporary challenges facing liberal democracy, highlighting the role of social protection, regulation, and democratic institutions in responding to economic and technological disruption. Prof. Geoffrey Pleyers discussed the renewal of sociology in the twenty-first century, emphasising the growing importance of feminist and decolonial perspectives, contributions from the Global South and sociologists’ engagement with contemporary societal challenges.
