This special issue, New Social Inequalities and the Future of Work, brings together a collection of papers that illustrate in differing ways the resilience and recreation of social inequalities in the context of contemporary trends in the world of work. Its draws on research presented at a symposium of the same name, held in June 2018 over two days at the Queensland Office of Industrial Relations and the University of Queensland. The symposium focused in particular on inequalities associated with age and gender, and their possible expansion in future labour markets. Themes explored ranged from training and work experience for young workers, the risks and possibilities for gender equality with changing employment and economic circumstances, the views and aspirations of young workers and the role of social supports for redressing inequalities located at the intersection of social reproduction and paid employment. A public lecture from leading American sociologist, Ruth Milkman, set the context for the symposium with a critical appraisal of ‘future of work’ scenarios. Milkman (2018) argued that predictions of widespread job losses in the face of technological change have obscured more pressing risks of work degradation associated with the widening power imbalance between employers and employees. Identifying de-industrialisation, deunionisation and deregulation as underlying forces, Milkman drew attention to processes of risk-shifting from firms to sub-contractors and franchisees, and from employers directly to workers by employing them as ‘independent contractors’, as contributors to rising inequality and precarity in labour markets in the United States. Reflecting on the likely winners and losers in a transformed workforce, Milkman underlined the persistence of complex patterns of inequalities by gender, race/ethnicity, immigration status and age. These themes of the degradation of work, employer power and increasing insecurity recur in the analyses presented in this special issue, underpinning concerns for the exacerbation of social inequalities and informing suggestions for regulatory reforms with potential to secure a more egalitarian future. The first four papers focus on gender equality, turning different lenses on strategies for, and barriers to, its advancement in the context of changing labour markets and economic conditions. Howcroft and Rubery’s phrase ‘bias in, bias out’ encapsulates their concern that the gender inequalities currently embedded in employment structures are likely to be reproduced or amplified with technological change unless action is taken ‘to set both the productive economy and social reproduction on a new path’. The pathway they advocate leads towards Nancy Fraser’s vision of a society that transcends male breadwinner/female caregiver norms

中文翻译：

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社论：新的社会不平等与工作的未来

本期特刊《新的社会不平等与工作的未来》汇集了一系列论文，这些论文以不同的方式说明了在工作世界的当代趋势中社会不平等的复原力和消解。它借鉴了2018年6月在昆士兰州劳资关系办公室和昆士兰大学举行的同名研讨会上进行的研究，历时两天。专题讨论会特别关注与年龄和性别有关的不平等及其在未来劳动力市场中可能的扩大。探索的主题包括青年工人的培训和工作经验，随着就业和经济状况的变化而性别平等的风险和可能性，青年工人的看法和愿望，以及社会支持在纠正社会再生产与有偿就业的交汇处的不平等方面的作用。美国著名社会学家露丝·米尔克曼（Ruth Milkman）在一次公开演讲中，通过对“未来工作”情景的批判性评估为研讨会奠定了基础。Milkman（2018）认为，面对技术变革而造成广泛失业的预测已经掩盖了因雇主和雇员之间权力不平衡加剧而导致的工作退化的更为紧迫的风险。米尔曼将去工业化，去工会化和放松管制视为潜在力量，因此提请他们注意将风险从公司转移到分包商和特许经营者，以及从雇主直接转移到工人的风险过程，方法是将他们转移为“独立承包商”，是导致美国劳动力市场不平等和不稳定的原因之一。米尔克曼反思了转变后的劳动力中可能的赢家和输家，强调了性别，种族/民族，移民身份和年龄等复杂的不平等现象的持续存在。本期特刊中的分析再次出现了工作退化，雇主权力上升和不安全感加剧的这些主题，这加剧了人们对社会不平等现象的担忧，并为监管改革提供了建议，以确保有一个更加平等的未来。前四篇论文关注于性别平等，在不断变化的劳动力市场和经济条件下，对促进性别平等的战略和障碍有不同的看法。Howcroft和Rubery的短语“偏见，偏见”概括了他们的担忧，即除非采取行动“将生产性经济和社会再生产置于新的道路上”，否则当前嵌入就业结构中的性别不平等很可能会随着技术变革而重现或加剧。他们倡导的途径引领了南希·弗雷泽（Nancy Fraser）对超越男性养家糊口/女性照顾者规范的社会的愿景