Opposition to statutory minimum wages by right-of-center parties has typically been framed around negative effects on employment. Yet in Germany before the adoption of a statutory minimum wage, and in Italy today, right-of-center parties have often invoked a different rationale: defending collective bargaining autonomy against state interference. In this new MPIfG Discussion Paper, Joshua Cova and Matteo Marenco find that appeals to bargaining autonomy function less as substantive commitments than as instruments to preserve the status quo in the low-wage sector.

In the current issue of economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, editor Jeanne Lazarus and contributors explore how economic
sociology can contribute to public and political debates through its concepts, methods,
and empirical insights. The aim is to examine how the field can enrich contemporary discussions, illuminate major social challenges, and shed light on the power relations that structure economic life.

MPIfG postdoc Bryan Boyle and his co-author Vandebroeck are the recipients of this year’s Distinguished Scholarly Article Award of the Labor and Labor Movements Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA). Their award-winning paper, “The Labor of Distinction: Butlers, Service Work, and the Production of Elite Lifestyles,” explores how elites use the labor of service workers to produce and reproduce distinct lifestyles.