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Conducts research and collects data on the global history of labour, workers, and labour relations
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Home > Research
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Research Projects
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Research
Why has work been valued and compensated in very different ways over the past five centuries? Why do
people’s working conditions vary so widely from slavery to well-paid wage labour? And how can people
individually or collectively influence these conditions? Hoping to answer these questions, the IISH is working
closely with researchers on other continents to gather and analyse data about social and economic changes all
over the world since 1500. This concerns labour relations, individual life cycles, survival strategies, and collective
actions, as well as time series of wages, prices, productivity, gender relations, life expectancies, and literacy.
The work and labour relations perspective is essential to discover how inequality comes about and is
perpetuated, within and between societies. Through this research, the Institute aims to contribute to current social
discussions about social inequality, economic growth, the environment, globalization, migration, and democracy.
Read more about the IISH research.
For more information see the position paper by Marcel van der Linden Globalizing Labour Historiography: The
IISH Approach and the paper by Jan Luiten van Zanden On global economic history; a personal view on an
agenda for future research.
For queries: research@iisg.nl
Research projects
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Current projects on Global Labour History, Global Migration History, and Global Economic History.
Past projects
Datahubs
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Datahubs and collaboratories
Staff
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Profiles and publications of staff members (A-Z) and fellows of the Research department
Publications
The International Review of Social History, and books, journals, online publications published on behalf of the
IISH. See also the publications by IISH research staff.
Conferences, Workshops
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European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC)
World Economic History Congress (WEHC) 2009
International Congress of Historical Sciences (ICHS) 2010
Past conferences, workshops and lectures (Research News Archive)
International networks
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International Association Strikes and Social Conflicts
International Social History Association
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latest publications
On the Waterfront (2016) 31
Bouwe Hijma, Eric de Ruijter, Huub Sanders
On Coerced Labor
Marcel van der Linden (ed), Magaly Rodriguez Garcia (ed)
On the Waterfront (2015) 30
Bouwe Hijma, Eric de Ruijter, Huub Sanders
+ more
latest news
Cooperation IISH and Pakhuis de Zwijger
High impact factor for International Review of Social History
PhD Defense Klaas Stutje: Indonesian nationalism in Europe
+ more
upcoming events
Conference in honour of Jan Breman
8 July 2016 to 9 July 2016
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An Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)
contact
T + 31 20 6685866
F + 31 20 6654181
E info@iisg.nl
opening hours
The Reading Room is open
Mon: 10 am till 5 pm
Tue-Fri: 9 am till 5 pm
ask@iisg.nl
address
P.O. Box 2169
1000 CD Amsterdam
Cruquiusweg 31
1019 AT Amsterdam
The Netherlands