About the person

Jule Elena Westerheide is a research associate (postdoc) at the Chair of Sociology of Digital Transformation at the Institute of Ergonomics at the Ruhr University Bochum with Prof. Dr Markus Hertwig. She previously worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Sociology with a focus on work and organization at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Professor Frank Kleemann).

In her dissertation The Illusion of Achievement Justice. Work and remuneration of secretaries (summa cum laude, supervision by Prof Dr Frank Kleemann and PD Dr Stephan Voswinkel) she deals with labor conflicts around the classification of secretaries and their achievement justice understanding. It pursues a subject-oriented approach in the sociology of work and in industrial relations. Her research focuses on worker awareness research, performance equity, gender relations and women’s employment, industrial relations (in the port sector), mobilization research and digitization (in the public service). Regionally, it focuses not only on Germany, but also on comparative studies in Europe and Latin America.

She completed her Master's degree (Global Studies Programme) with a joint degree from the University of Fribourg and the Universidad Autonoma de Buenos Aires and also completed research stays abroad (Universidad de la Havana, Cuba) during her Bachelor's degree.

Research projects

• Decentralised wage-setting systems
• New Normal - Empirical Survey and Real Labs

Academic career

Juli 2020 - Okt 2022: Project employee in the project "Decentralized wage determination systems in Europe", UDE

Juli 2014 - Juni 2020: Research assistant at the Institute of Sociology (Uni-Due) at the Chair of Work and Organization.   

Dissertation(Summa cum laude) "The illusion of achievement justice. Wage entitlement and performance of secretaries in contradiction to the collective bargaining company evaluation of their work"                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Sose 2014: Research assistant at the Institute of Sociology Freiburg

2011 - 2014: Studium des Global Studies Programme, Institut für Soziologie an der Universität Freiburg Freiburg und FLACSO Argentina Joint Degree of University of Freiburg and FLACSO Argentina .

Masterarbeit: ‚Female Employment between Precarity and Emancipation: the case of female workers in Argentinean Empresas Recuperadas’

2007 - 2010: Studied ethnology and psychology at the University of Freiburg.

Bachelorarbeit: ‚Informal Strategies of Work in Socialist Cuba: Self-conception and Social Position of Landlords of Private Tourist Accommodation'

Semester abroad / internship in: Jawaharlal-Nehru-University, New Delhi, Indien (WS 2011/12); FLACSO, Buenos Aires, Argentinien (SS 2011); Universidad de la Habana, Kuba (WS 2009/10)

Selected publications

Monographs

• Westerheide, Jule Elena (2021): The Illusion of Performance Justice: Work and Remuneration of Secretaries Campus Verlag: Frankfurt/New York.
• Kleemann, Frank; Westerheide, Jule & Ingo Matuschek (2019): Current Debates in Sociology of Work: Springer VS.

Articles and anthology contributions

•  Martin Lenzner, Jule Elena Westerheide, Markus Hertwig & Anna Korn (2023): Standardisation gaps in hybrid work. Post-pandemic working time cultures and the repersonalisation of control using the example of public administration. In: AiS-Studien 2/2023. https://www.arbsoz.de/ais-studien-2023
• Westerheide, Jule Elena & Arne Schott (2022): Critical Science in the Ivory Tower or Design Science in Business? On the influence of the reform program humanization of working life on the practical orientation in industrial sociology of the 1970/80’s. Journal of Sociology, Oct https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsoz-2022-0024
• Westerheide, Jule Elena (2022). Relations of ideal claims and material interests using the example of pay conflicts in secretarial work. In: AiS-Studien, 15 (1), p. 54-69.
• Westerheide, Jule Elena (2021). The workplace interview as a legitimation factor of organizational performance evaluation - shared evaluation criteria and asymmetric assertiveness.  In: Meier & Peetz (ed.), Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p.
• Westerheide, Jule Elena (2020): "One was a lone fighter here" - Collectivization of the labor conflicts of secretaries in informal networks? In:Artus, Bennewitz, Henninger, Holland & Kerber-Clasen (ed.), Labor Conflicts are Gender Struggles.  Münster: Westphalian steamboat, page 286-303.
• Westerheide, Jule Elena (2020): Female Employees Object - Conflicts over Performance Assessment in Secretarial Work.  Becker, Binner, Deciéux (Ed.), The Social Economy of the European Union: A Comparative Perspective on Labour and Gender.
• Westerheide, Jule & Kleemann, Frank (2017). The work of secretaries - attributions and recognition of assistance work in the public service. In: Aulenbacher, Dammayr, Dörre, Menz, Riegraf & Wolf (eds.), Performance and Justice: The Controversial Promise of Capitalism. Weinheim/Basel: Beltz Juventa.
• Westerheide, Jule Elena (2016) Precarious employment of women in the global South - On the transferability of the precarization debate. Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Precarisation, Vol 1, No Access via: https://www.socialtrans.de/index.php/st/article/view/

Selected Courses

• Seminar: Industrial Relations in the Logistics and Transport Sector (SoSe2022, UDE, BA Sociology)
• Seminar: Work and Subject: Analyses and Debates on Current Developments in the World of Work (WS 21/22, UDE, BA Sociology)
• Seminar: Performance Orientation and Justice Perception today - Studies on the Subjectivity of Employed Persons (SoSe2019, UDE, MA Sociology)
• Seminar: Organization and Gender - Insights into Organizational Research (WS18/19, UDE, MA Sociology)
• Seminar: Labour and Capitalism Theory (SoSe2018, UDE, MA Lehramt)
• Seminar: Precarization International? Precarious Employment in Global Comparison (WS17/18, UDE, BA Sociology)
• Teaching Research Project: The Work of Secretaries (2015/16, UDE)
• Seminar: Reconstructive Analysis of Guided Interviews (SoSe2015, UDE, BA Sociology)
• Tutorial: Interdisciplinary Methodology (SoSe2014, University of Freiburg, Global Studies Programme)