Dr Mirela Ivanova
Visiting researcher

Profile

Biography

• PhD Sociology, University of Basel
• MA Sociology, Free University of Berlin 

I am a postdoctoral researcher working in the sociology of work, with a particular interest in digitalisation and young people’s experiences in the world of work.

I have researched and published on gig work, call centre work, and, more recently, online marketing and risk analysis. Across these areas, my research is informed by critical approaches to work, especially theories of alienation, reification and digital capitalism. I am interested in how workers experience autonomy, precarity, control and meaning, and how these experiences are connected to broader social and economic transformations.

Research

Projects

Current Grant: Futures and Futurelessness among Young Watchmakers in Switzerland, Swiss National Science Foundation.

This project explores how young watchmakers in Switzerland imagine their personal and societal futures. It examines how they make sense of work, uncertainty, tradition and technological change while entering a highly specialised vocational field.

Publications

Selected publications

• Ivanova, M., Nachtwey, O., Thaa, H., & Hardering, F. (2025). Alienation in the Algorithmic Labour of Search Engine Optimisation Specialists. New Technology, Work and Employment, 40(3), 635-645.
• Ivanova, M. (2021). Bringing Reifcation Back to Work. Metodo, 9(2), S. 205–240.
• Ivanova, M., & von Scheve, C. (2020). Power through empowerment? The managerial discourse on employee empowerment. Organization, 27(6), 777-796.
• Ivanova, M., Bronowicka, J., Kocher, E. und Degner, A. (2018).The App as a Boss?.Control and Autonomy in Application-Based Management, Arbeit | Grenze | Fluss – Work in Progress interdisziplinärer Arbeitsforschung 2, Frankfurt (Oder): Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt.