“Cooperative Labour & Intersectional Approaches to Power Relations”

Postdoctoral position in Sociology (Qualitative Methods)

Research project

The WE-COOP project shifts our traditional androcentric perspective on workplace democracy by investigating the labour experiences of women in worker cooperatives. Studied for their high potential in the democratisation of labour relations, worker cooperatives have been systematically considered only from the perspective of class struggles. WE-COOP explores how and why worker cooperatives are also a locus where yet unexplored sets of
representations, practices and justifications pertaining to women’s emancipation and gender equality at work are produced.
Focusing on France as a case study, the project relies on a multi-layered survey of worker cooperatives as well as on rare forms of all-women cooper tive experiments. It combines quantitative and qualitative methods with innovative participatory research in four incremental steps, allowing for the appropriation by women workers of their narratives and struggles.
More info: www.we-coop.eu

Job description & Role

The postdoctoral researcher will propose and carry out their own sub-project, consisting in a specific study of a cooperative experiment (either from their own research sites – including those outside France – or from among the dozens of cases identified within the WE-COOP project) and grounded in intersectional approaches to power relations. The researcher will be expected to identify fields or contexts and main research questions in connection with their own interests (for e.g. industrial experiences, rural settings, women-only environments, feminised or male-dominated occupations, marginalised groups, or self-managed initiatives…). The aim of the sub-project is to contribute to bringing to light, together with the population concerned, marginalised work narratives. The use of radical feminist and participatory epistemologies is encouraged.
The postdoctoral researcher will join Phase 2 of the WE-COOP project, which is based on qualitative research with women workers in cooperatives (SCOPs) in France. Drawing on radical feminist epistemologies, the study aims to collect a series of interviews as oral archives of gendered experiences of workplace democracy, understood broadly as the production and reproduction of social life. Several case studies will be conducted as part of the itinerant research.

How to apply?

Please send the following documents (in English or French) in a single PDF via e-mail to Jun.-Prof. Ada Reichhart
(areichhart unistra fr) with "WE-COOP application" in the subject line:

1. Letter of motivation describing your profile, your interest in the position, and the research sub-project
   you propose to carry out within WE-COOP (including your main research questions and the fields or
   contexts you are interested in) (2–3 pages).
2. CV detailing your education and career path, language skills, publications and the contact information for
   2 references who may be contacted during the recruitment process.
3. Two writing samples sole author (can be work in progress).

Please submit these documents by 15 December 2025.
We will consider all applications that meet these requirements.
Informal enquiries about the position are welcome: Jun.-Prof. Ada Reichhart (areichhart@unistra.fr).