Prof. Dr. Martina Sproll
Martina is a professor of social sciences specialising in structural change and the welfare state from an international perspective. She researches and teaches at the interface of structural change and social inequality, particularly in the context of global value chains. She is currently leading the research project ‘Digitalisation of value chains in the retail sector’, which examines the effects of digital restructuring on labour and production processes, employment conditions and inequality in retail value chains. Her research focuses on international and intersectional inequalities, the restructuring and precarisation of labour markets and digitalisation in production and service sectors. She has been a member of the ‘Forum Neue Politik der Arbeit’ since 2017 and is involved at the interface between academia and trade unions in order to analyse and support changes in the world of work. She is academic director of the Master programme “Labour Policies and Globalisation” of the Global Labour University.
Research Areas
- Sociology of work, transnationalisation of work and production
- Gender relations, precarisation, (intersectional) social inequalities
- Global value chains (especially in IT and electronics)
- Digitalisation of work
- Sociology and political economy of Latin America (especially Brazil and Mexico)
Selected Publications
Sproll, M. (2025): Vom stationären zum Omni-Channel-Händler: Digitale Transformation in Ikeas Einzelhandels- und Logistiknetzwerk und Auswirkungen auf Arbeit, in : Standort, special issue Einzelhandel und Logistik, 2/2025 (im Erscheinen), mit Lopez, T., Fütterer, M., Mayer, C.
Sproll, M. (2022): Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains from a Perspective of Gendered and Intersectional Social Inequalities. In Teipen, C., Dünhaupt, P., Herr, H., Mehl, F. (eds.). Economic and Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 145-169. (Begutachtet)
Sproll, M. (2022): Global Contestations of Social Reproduction. Compounding Crises and COVID-19. In: Scheele, A./ Roth, J./ Winkel, H. (eds): Global Contestations of Gender Rights. Bielefeld University Press, pp. 163-181, available online (open access): https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/download/2958095/2961702/Global%20contestation%20of%20gender%20rights.pdf, mit Scheele A. und Plomien, A. (nicht begutachtet)
Sproll, M. (2021): Globale Arbeit. In Fischer, K., Hauck, G., Boatca, M. (eds). Handbuch Entwicklungsforschung, Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Sproll, M. (2021): Social Reproduction and State Responses to the Global Covid-19 Pandemic: Keeping Capitalism on the Move? In: Kupfer, A., Stutz, C. (eds.): “Covid, Crisis, Care and Change”, Barbara Budrich, available online (open access): https://shop.budrich.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/9783847425410_Plomien-et-al..pdf, mit Scheele, A./Plomien, A.
Sproll, M. (2021): Vom kulturellen Kapital zur Reputationsökonomie. Entwertung von Arbeitsvermögen und Qualifikation durch Crowdwork, in: Büchter, K./ Höhne, T. (2021): Berufs‐ und Weiterbildung unter Druck. Ökonomisierungsprozesse in Arbeit, Beruf und Qualifizierung, Wiesbaden: Juventa, S. 124-145, mit Höhne, T.
Sproll, M. (2020): Ungleichheit in globalen Wertschöpfungsketten: eine intersektionale Perspektive auf Soziale Reproduktion. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 45(2020), pp. 385-401. DOI 10.1007/s11614-020-00429-6. (Begutachtet)
Sproll, M. (2020): Devaluation of cultural capital on online platforms and the changing shape of the social space, Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation, Vol. 14 (1) 2020, pp. 32-46, mit Höhne, T.
Sproll, M. (2019): Internationale Kampagnen gegen Samsung. In Fischer, K. & Grandner, M. (eds.). Globale Ungleichheit, Wien: Mandelbaum, pp. 137-141.
Sproll, M./Wehr, I. (2014): Capitalist Peripheries: Precarisation from the Global North and South, in Journal für Entwicklungspolitik JEP, Vol. 30, No. 4/2014, Special Issue