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Hysteresis is a versatile concept for volatile times. Pierre Bourdieu's sociological use recognises hysteresis in times of dislocation and disruption between field and habitus, 'in particular, when a field undergoes a major crisis and its regularities (even its rules) are profoundly changed' (Bourdieu, 2000: 160). In considering the issues and implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, hysteresis renders visible 'multi-level, multi-temporal dynamics' (Strand and Lizardo, 2016: 169). It is attendant to the temporality of work and how workers, workplaces, workforces and fields of work are affected. The COVID-19 crisis may give rise to sudden changes such as no work (e.g. redundancies, mass unemployment), reduced work (e.g. reduced hours, underemployment), suspended work (e.g. going on furlough), or absence from work (e.g. leave and workforce absence rates). The transition to working from home and online, en masse, raises considerations of habitus and taking practice online, with many experiencing rapid digital transformation and remote working. The COVID-19 pandemic raises significant sociological issues of intersectionality and inequality, as precarity, risk and harms are experienced unevenly. There are age and gendered differences, including where working from home is in conflict with concurrent caring and home schooling responsibilities. These issues and changes, their meaning and collateral consequences, urgently warrant sociological analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we study class differences, as measured by the Erikson, Goldthorpe and Portocarero (EGP) class scheme, in long-term sickness absence, and, using data from three years of the Norwegian Level of Living Survey, we investigate the possible explanatory mechanisms for these differences in Norway. Our results show that there are class differences in sickness absence especially among men, but also among women. The two main underlying factors are education and physical work environment. The results suggest that selection mechanisms and material conditions are important, and prompt the question whether psychosocial work environment explains the marked class differences in sickness absence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

abstract: What we do when we get home is influenced by what we do at work. In this article I analyse the relationship between market work and domestic activities from the perspectives of economic theories of time use, i.e. the work-leisure model (compares income work versus other activities) and the household production model (compares income work and household work), and sociological theory treating the issue of how leisure activities compensate for work strains. The empirical analysis of time use is based on the Norwegian time-use survey from 2000-2001. Estimates on working conditions are based on the Norwegian level of living surveys from 1996 and 2000 for 100 occupations found in both surveys. The analyses indicate that both physical strains and low autonomy at the place of employment lead to an allocation of time away from paid work towards unpaid work and leisure, but with considerable differences for men and women. The findings indicate that working conditions are part of the trade-off between paid and unpaid work, and that leisure activities may compensate for human needs being neglected in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognition denotes a basic medium of social integration. It provides an answer to the question: What holds a society together? Recognition is also crucial to the process of socialization and identity formation. In order to develop a personal identity an individual is dependent upon recognition from different concrete and generalized others. This review essay focuses on the debate between Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth, published recently under the title Redistribution or Recognition? A Political-Philosophical Exchange (2003). Then the theme of recognition is discussed in relation to the sociology of work, taking as a point of departure a collection of articles published under the title Anerkennung und Arbeit (2000). Finally, attention is drawn to some recent contributions from Nordic scholars, mainly within the disciplines of social philosophy and sociology, to the theme of recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article comments on editorial policy and introduces article in this issue of "Acta Sociologica," which includes research on school-to-work transition in Europe and on class differentials affecting educational attainment, as well as reflections on sociological theory and practice.