Vulnerability as a foundational paradigm of Italian Labour Law. A reflection on vulnerability in the era of "flexicurity".

Abstract

This paper investigates the notion of vulnerability as a foundational paradigm of Italian labour law, historically rooted in principles of solidarity and substantive equality. It begins with a theoretical examination of vulnerability, understood both as a universal human condition and as a context-dependent relational state, to assess its legal implications. The author argues that the inclusion of vulnerability into legal analysis challenges the liberal paradigm of the autonomous legal subject and calls for an active role of the State in acknowledging and remedying conditions of subjection. Tracing the evolution of Italian labour law from its protective origins to its current orientation towards flexibility and “flexicurity”, the study highlights how this shift has undermined protections and exacerbated precarity. In response, the paper advocates a re-centering of labour law on its original values, suggesting that vulnerability should not only be recognized but actively deconstructed, by addressing the systemic and institutional causes that produce or intensify it. Ultimately, the paper calls for a renewed legal framework that reinstates labour law’s essential function: the protection of human dignity, equality, and freedom within increasingly fragmented and globalized labour markets.