This article develops a theoretical concept of the “labour-political public sphere” to analyze the political structuring of paid work in the context of transformation. Starting from the diagnosis of a gap in political theory, the significance of work for democratic orders is conceptualized through the notion of “industrial citizenship” and situated within the interplay of globalization, digitalization, and decarbonization. Central to this argument is the thesis that industrial civil rights do not take effect automatically, but are produced, stabilized, and transformed through conflict-ridden processes within the labour-political public sphere. At the micro, meso, and macro levels, the study demonstrates how public negotiations regarding labor are constituted and contribute to the (re)configuration of labor rights. Labour-political publics thus appear to be a central prerequisite for the democratic regulation of paid work under conditions of transformation

Heiland, Heiner; Seeliger, Martin, 2026: Industrial Citizenship und arbeitspolitische Öffentlichkeit in der Transformation, Band 44, Schriftenreihe Institut Arbeit und Wirtschaft/2026, Bremen: Institut Arbeit und Wirtschaft, Download PDF