ABSTRACT
Der Beitrag verbindet die Forschung zu den Auswirkungen der Corona-Pandemie mit der Debatte über die Relevanz sozialer Klasse. Mit einem klassenanalytischen Zugang (Oesch-16) und auf der Basis eines Mixed-Methods-Designs mit Erwerbstätigensurvey und qualitativen Interviews aus der Frühphase der Pandemie werden die Auswirkungen von Covid-19 auf die Arbeitswelt in fünf Themenfeldern untersucht: Infektionsrisiken am Arbeitsplatz, wirtschaftliche Lasten, mobiles Arbeiten, Arbeitsbedingungen sowie Vereinbarkeit von Erwerbsarbeit und Kinderbetreuung. Dabei zeigen sich im Bereich der Erwerbsarbeit ausgeprägte vertikale und horizontale Klassenungleichheiten, die punktuell auch auf die Schnittstelle zur unbezahlten Sorgearbeit ausstrahlen und die zudem in den Alltagserfahrungen vieler Erwerbstätiger präsent sind. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen die Bedeutung der Klassenlage für das Arbeitserleben in der Pandemie, verweisen jedoch auch auf Grenzen der Erklärungskraft klassenanalytischer Perspektiven.Article NoteAlternate :This paper links the research on the impact of the Corona pandemic to the debate on the relevance of social class. Using a class analytic approach (Oesch-16) and based on a mixed-methods design with an employee survey and qualitative interviews from the early phase of the pandemic, the impact of Covid-19 on the world of work is examined in five thematic areas: Infection risks at the workplace, economic burdens, mobile working, working conditions, and reconciliation of paid work and child care. The results reveal pronounced vertical and horizontal class inequalities in the sphere of paid work, which partially also spill into the sphere of unpaid care work, and which are also present in the everyday experiences of many working people. The results highlight the importance of class for work experience in the pandemic, but also point to limitations of the explanatory power of class analytic perspectives in the sphere of care work.
ABSTRACT
The study analyses inequalities in how German employees experience corona-related health and economic risks at the workplace. A social class framework is used to locate both types of risks within the vertically stratified and horizontally differentiated employment structure. A mixed-methods approach is applied based on a workforce survey (n = 9737) and qualitative interviews (n = 27), from the early stage of the pandemic (April to May 2020). Logistic regressions triangulated with interview analysis reveal striking occupational inequalities in employees' corona experience: The work-life burdens of Covid-19 hit social classes quite unequally. Three findings are particularly noteworthy. First, health and economic risk experiences are primarily located in different horizontal segments of the employment structure. Perceived health risks are highest for the classes based on the interpersonal work logic, whereas the independent classes and the technical classes experience higher economic risks. Second, risk experience among wage earners is vertically stratified. In each horizontal segment, members of the lower classes report significantly higher health and economic risks than the upper classes. Third, although health and economic risks have their centres in different horizontal segments, the risks overlap among production and service workers at the lower end of the employment structure;thus, amplifying pre-existing class inequalities.